Strong authentication is a logical next step in mobile technology. The Internet has been an increasingly integral part of human life for decades, and with the introduction of the smartphone, tablet and now wearable technology, being able to properly and irrefutably prove your identity in the digital half of the world is necessary.
According to a new research report by Goode Intelligence, published this week, biometrics are the key factor in this. The firm predicts that biometric authentication capabilities will be mainstream features on mobile devices and wearable gadgets by the end of 2015.
The report, titled Mobile and Wearable Biometric Authentication: Market Analysis and Forecasts 2014-2019, predicts that by 2019 there will be 5.5 billion users of mobile and wearable technology across the globe. Thanks to key drivers like the need for convenient authentication, a replacement for passwords, enterprise level mobile security and authenticators for the Internet of Things (otherwise known as M2M), these pervasive devices are expected to be biometrics by design.
Alan Goode, author of the report and founder of Goode Intelligence comments on the market, saying, “We believe that smartphones and tablets will be the first wave of consumer devices to be biometrically-enabled and this will quickly be followed by wearable technology.”
He continues: “We are very much at the beginning of another transformational aspect of authentication – the use of wearable technology for authentication purposes, in particular leveraging the next wave of biometric technology to create seamless, continuous, authentication. What will be truly transformational about the use of biometrics on wearable devices, is the birth of the universal authenticator – a device that intuitively knows who we are, where we are, what we want to do and can open doors – both physical and virtual.”
In the report, Goode predicts that later in 2014 we will see more biometrics on Apple devices, including the much anticipated iWatch. This is in sync with Apple’s recent announcement that TouchID will be open to app developers with iOS 8 and speculation that every non-iPod release from the company in 2014 – which includes two iPhones and two iPads – will ship with the sapphire fingerprint sensors.
Interestingly, the report cites the potential for heartbeat recognition as another biometric modality that Apple may be integrating in this trend. Vital biometrics are standard on wearables like the iWatch, but as of yet have an untapped potential as authenticators.
“We have already seen two of the largest smart mobile device (SMD) manufacturers (Apple and Samsung) launch flagship models with integrated fingerprint sensors allowing convenient biometric authentication for millions of users around the world,” says Alan Goode, going on to promote his report.
“With millions more mobile devices being launched during 2014 that allow users to biometrically authenticate into a wide range of services including payment and enterprise services, this report provides detailed analysis on one of the most dynamic areas of technology today.”
It is currently Mobile Multi-Modal Month here at Mobile ID World. Just today we published an article about the profound impact that mobile devices have had on human identity. Be sure to check that out, as well as our related primer examining all of the many applications of mobile authentication.
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