Leap Motion unveils contents of its own app store

The Next Big Thing now has the next big app store. The Leap, the forthcoming 3D-gesture control device that could by all accounts replace the mouse, the joystick and even the keyboard, will launch on 13 May alongside a fully stocked app store called Airspace.

 Leap announced that the apps on offer will range from serious high-fidelity gesture-based 3D design tools from Auto CAD author Auto desk, via a weather channel app offering Minority Report-style map movements, to drawing packages and a clutch of games - from speedway racing to a hand-waving version of mobile hit Cut The Rope.

Quite how the Leap manages its extraordinary resolution - it can track a 10-micro metre movement of your fingers at rates of up to 290 times per second - is still wrapped up in patents and a dose of the company's secret sauce.

For instance, the invention-licensing firm intellectual ventures of Bellevue, Washington, has recently filed US patents on processing 3D gestures and a TV with built-in gesture control.