It's been rumored for a while, and Apple has finally confirmed that it acquired PrimeSense, the 3D sensor company behind Microsoft's Kinect technology for the Xbox.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, a spokesperson for Apple confirmed that the Cupertino IT giant bought the Israeli sensor company on Sunday. Earlier in the week, rumors swarmed the internet that Apple had officially made a purchase, or at least were at the near end of negotiating a deal for an acquisition.

However despite confirming that the acquisition was made, Apple was mum about the details: the spokesperson who confirmed the deal to Businessweek said, "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Right now, Apple's aims for the 3D sensor company are anybody's guess. PrimeSense worked with Microsoft to make the Kinect, which at first was a peripheral system for the Xbox 360 but has evolved into a central, and included, aspect of the new Xbox One.

PrimeSense's Kinect features depth-sensing technology and motion-tracking that allows for people to use their body as the controller - no attachments, special clothes, or light-based baton-like controllers needed. But according to Bloomberg, it's what the 3D sensor company has been working on - its new, downsized, depth-sensing technology - that could make it possible for use with the iPhone, opening up the possibility of apps for indoor navigation, 3D shopping catalogues, and other scanning applications.

That may be getting a little ahead of ourselves though, and there are always other possible applications for a Kinect-style 3D sensor on an Apple TV or iTV - or any other devices or hardware that could be made possible when a UI and design-heavy company like Apple gets its hands on PrimeSense's intellectual property and expertise.

A gesture-based UI for mobile devices is TechCrunch's best guess at the moment, which is something Samsung has already unconvincingly attempted to implement in its Galaxy S3 and (even more so) Galaxy S4 smartphones.

Apple would obviously not disclose the amount it purchased the Tel-Aviv-based company for if it wasn't willing to divulge any details other than "it happened," but rumors have the company priced at anywhere from $280 million to $360 million, but later reports have it around $350 million.

Apple has somewhere in the vicinity of $147 billion it can use for buying big, useful assets, and while it might not have gone on a Yahoo-type shopping spree in the past year, it has made quite a few acquisitions. In October, Apple bought Cue, a personal assistant company for around $50 million, and before that, several small companies throughout August. Big acquisitions almost always show up in Apple products just a little while later. The iPhone 5s's Touch ID fingerprint scanner, for example, was debuted just a year after Apple acquired AuthenTec, a mobile security company, for upwards of $356 million in July of 2012. Whatever PrimeSense is contributing to th Apple leviathan, we might see it as soon as next year's WWDC.