This week’s big news in mobile ID came out of Cupertino, California, with Apple’s keynote concerning its upcoming wearable. While we decompressed and deconstructed the Apple Watch and its features, news concerning the Internet of Things and mCommerce in the Middle East rounded out this second week of March.
Apple’s Big Event
The week began with the Apple Watch keynote in California on Monday, which has been long awaited by proponents of wearable tech, Apple acolytes and competing OEMs alike. Apple’s presentation was densely packed with demonstrations and explanations of how it expects wearable tech to transform everyday life: rather than focusing on active living like many past smartwatches, the Apple Watch’s main appeal is in its ability to connect users to the Internet of Things. Additionally we learned about the company’s new medical research initiative and got an update on Car Play, its connected car platform.
Here is how Apple helped form the conversation this week:
Apple Watch Demo Makes Wearables Seem Essential
Apple Watch Uses Tokenization, Eschews Biometrics for Apple Pay
Apple Bringing Big Biometric Data To Medical Research
Apple Shareholders to CEO: Partner with Tesla or Buy It
Medical Software Firm Sees Opportunity in Apple ResearchKit
Internet of Things
Speaking of the Internet of Things, while Apple was making sure its newest iPhone peripheral is positioned positively within the machine to machine (M2M) ecosystem, we reported on new partnerships and applications that are going to make IoT easy to interface with. Voice biometrics, as usual, was at the center of this discussion, but vital biometrics made an appearance too, with Britain’s Halifax Bank considering the Nymi biometric wristband for mComemrce and customer authentication purposes.
British Bank Considers Nymi for Customer Authentication
Qualcomm Integrates Sensory’s Low-Power Voice Recognition
SAP Eyes Internet of Things with New Partnerships
Hyundai Takes IoT Baby Step with Blue Link App
Expect Labs CEO Touts Advancement of Voice Recognition Technology
Mobile Money and the Middle East
The nations of the Middle East are becoming a hotbed for biometrics and mobile technology. This week a new partnership between ImageWare and Agility will see the former’s identity solutions marketed in the region and a new report highlighted how ripe the region is for a boom in mCommerce. We also learned that government workers in Afghanistan will begin to be paid using biometric tech.
Stateside, MasterCard announced that it will be bringing biometric security to Silicon Valley’s First Tech Credit Union.
Logistics Firm Marketing ImageWare Tech in Middle East
Afghani Government Workers to be Paid Via Biometrics
New Report Finds Great Potential for mCommerce in Middle East
MasterCard to Bring Biometric Security to Silicon Valley Credit Union
Mobile Releases and Revolutions
This week past was not without its smartphone releases. Viao launched its first smartphone and AMREL carved out a niche for ultra-durable Android devices with its new APEX AH53 handheld.
In terms of mobile ID applications, Calgary Scientific announced that its ResolutionMD solution has received class II certification in Japan. Finally, caller authentication in call centers move to the end-user device with a security platform that can leverage embedded smartphone fingerprint sensors in addition to other mobile modalities.
Security System Routes Caller Authentication Through Mobile Devices
Rugged Mobile Elbows its Way Into Market
ResolutionMD Receives Class II Certification for Japanese Market
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