Prophetic: World Falls In Love With Idea Of Buying & Selling Via Biometric Scanning
Pastor Dale Morgan
Prophetic: World Falls In Love With Idea Of Buying & Selling Via
Biometric Scanning*
Apr 8th, 2007 2:12 PM
Paying by fingerprint will make shopping a breeze
SYDNEY - Imagine a day when the only item you'll need to take to the
supermarket to complete a transaction is your index finger.
The concept is already a reality in a limited capacity in some places
around the world but observers believe the technology could become
mainstream by 2012.
Using biometric scanning to make transactions is expected to be only one
of many new methods that are part of a revolution in payments technology.
The long reign of swipe-and-sign plastic cards appears to be weakening
with retailers and others considering new ways to make the payment
process more secure and faster.
In the US, NCR Corporation - a 123-year-old maker of cash registers - is
already providing registers to retailers that include fingerprint
scanner locks for staff to reduce loss and attendance fraud.
NCR says the next phase of the technology is to get customers feeling
comfortable with the idea of using their biological information to make
casual purchases.
Leading the charge in this area is another US company, Pay By Touch,
which uses biometric technology to allow consumers to pay for purchases
and access loyalty discounts at checkout counters.
Pay By Touch has partnered NCR to merge the fingerprint authentication
system with NCR's biometric point-of-sale hardware allowing US consumers
to make purchases at selected stores.
Biometric information in its various forms has gained acceptance in a
number of government environments, predominantly for security reasons.
And in the consumer sector, a number of Japanese and South Korean banks
are using fingerprint scanners as a form of identification at automated
teller machines.
Christophe Uzureau, a research analyst with Gartner, says the biggest
hindrance to the advancement of the technology in retail is public
perception about privacy.
But once this hurdle is cleared, biometric payment systems could give
some leverage to retailers looking to move their revenue streams away
from credit.
"What's happening is a much more flexible market place," Uzureau said.
"The idea is to put pressure on the card industry and improve the
negotiating power of merchants."
Gartner expects fingerprint purchases to become a mainstream reality in
five to 10 years.
The ubiquitous mobile phone is also emerging as a possible replacement
for the plastic card.
'The opportunity for mobile payment initiatives exists, but it is
niche-oriented and tends to be local," Uzureau said. "For instance, to
support remote top-up for mobile phone prepaid balance, parking and
ticketing services."
- AAP