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It will be interesting to see how apple manages to do this without violating one or more of microsoft's kinect patent(s)

Most patents for the base technology are probably owned by PrimeSense, the company that developed the depth sensor used in Kinect.

Reportedly[1] Apple has recently offered $280 million for PrimeSense. Hmm.

Apple and Microsoft have had a cross-licensing deal since Steve came back to Apple. There are better sources that I don't have handy, but http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/13/3239977/apple-and-microsof... confirms the base details.