via @9to5Mac

In 2010 we reported that Apple snapped up a Swedish company called Polar Rose that specializes in face detection algorithms. Less than a year after this purchase, we have discovered what Apple actually intends to do with this software. Besides the fun Photo Booth effects that are now found in the OS X Lion implementation of Photo Booth – Apple will take their new face recognition knowledge to the next level with iOS 5.

Apple is not specifically planning to launch an iOS 5 application that relies on their face detection technology, but plans to do something much more important. Open up facial recognition as a public developer API for iOS 5 applications. The implications of this are obviously vast. Most importantly, an easy way for developers to integrate the sought after technology, with vast amounts of uses, into their App Store applications.