Biometric software and specialized sensors are quickly becoming standard issue on smartphones and other mobile devices. Whether it’s on the newest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, a $150 budget priced smartphone, or even your old handset from days long past, chances are you can protect it with biometrics. Digital identity solutions have become essential to the future of mobility and connectivity.
The proliferation of mobile biometric solutions is a recent and massive paradigm shift. Particularly when it comes to consumer technology, the normalization of biometric security is changing the way we access not only the Internet, but other essential parts of daily life too, including financial services. Throughout August at Mobile ID World we will be focusing on this major paradigm shift in technology and identity- how it started, the ideas behind it, and where it’s taking us. Welcome to Mobile Revolution Month.
The Apple Effect
While fingerprint sensors on smartphones had existed before the Apple iPhone 5S, that flagship handset is considered the tipping point of the mobile revolution. Analysts, like Maxine Most from Acuity Market Intelligence, had been predicting that if Apple found a way to build biometrics into its mobile devices it would enable a new generation of online mobile services. Sure enough, Apple’s Touch ID marked the start of a trend that would sweep the mobile landscape as other OEMs, including rival Samsung, integrated fingerprint sensors into their flagship handsets.
The benefits were reaped by the fingerprint sensor industry. The collateral success of sensor makers was termed “The Apple effect” by NEXT Biometrics – a company that has experienced growth thanks to the mobile revolution. The follwoing links will serve to give you an overview of the role Apple has played in popularizing the fingerprint sensor on the mobile device.
Acuity Predicted The Mobile Biometrics Revolution
Fingerprint Biometrics On DoCoMo’s Fujitsu Smartphone Courtesy of Fingerprint Cards AB
Touch ID: Apple’s iPhone 5S Fingerprint Biometrics Announcement
Apple Announces Two New iPhones, a Mobile Wallet and a Smartwatch
Touch ID Unlocking the Future for Mobile Biometrics
“Apple Effect” Buoys NEXT Biometrics Sales
The App Effect
Immediately after fingerprint sensors became the big thing on smartphones it became clear that there was a demand on lower end models and old generation devices. Not everyone can afford the newest iPhone or Galaxy device, and even today there are still smartphone brands that have eschewed the tip of your finger as security. Thankfully, biometric software solutions soon followed in the wake of the fingerprint sensor trend, allowing any phone with a mic or a front facing camera to embrace the shift toward biometrics as well. From voice, to face, to the veins in your eye, biometric apps can measure a range of body parts without the need to upgrade your hardware. The following links will provide you with an idea of how software has factored into the mobile revolution.
12.9 Billion Biometric Apps To Be Downloaded by 2020
Biometric Software Month: The Roundup
ZTE Incorporates EyeVerify Biometrics into Flagship Device
Sensory Brings Multi Factor Biometrics To Android Devices
AGNITiO and Nok Nok Labs Partner to Deliver FIDO Ready Mobile Tech
ZoOm App Enables 3D Facial Recognition on Smartphones
Making a Set of Rules
Months before the iPhone 5S introduced Touch ID, a consortium prophesying the death of passwords officially formed. The FIDO Alliance brought together key interests in the world of authentication to establish specifications for strong online authentication. Now, years later, FIDO has implemented its UAF (Universal Authentication Factor) and U2F (Universal Second Factor) standards, ensuring interoperability and a high level of accountability across a wide range of devices. The Alliance experienced massive growth in its first year, published its FIDO 1.0 draft specifications the next year, and now boasts an impressive membership with real world implementations.
FIDO was not the only industry consortium assembled in the opening days of the mobile revolution. The Natural Security Alliance was formed that same year, meant to allow for the development of standards in Europe enabling biometric payment. The following links will give you an overview of how these organizations have helps keep the revolution going by highlighting major milestones.
FIDO Alliance Sparks Momentum – Boasts Over 50 Members in Eight Months
Webinar: The Password is Dead!
FIDO Publishes Final 1.0 Specification Drafts, Kills Passwords
Microsoft Embraces FIDO Standards for Windows 10
Natural Security Pushes for Biometric Mobile Authentication Standards, Starts An Alliance
Two New mCommerce Solutions Demonstrate Natural Security Alliance Standards
Sentenial Joins Natural Security Alliance
Commerce Wars
The convenience offered by mobile biometrics has finally made it possible to realize the mobile wallet. Last September, when Apple unveiled its second generation of Touch ID devices, it also announced Apple Pay, a biometrically enabled feature made possible with a great number of partnerships that allows users to pay for real life goods and services via their iPhones. This once again signalled another trend in smartphone tech, as Apple’s major rivals followed up with their own mobile wallets and financial institutions began to pilot their own solutions. The following links will serve as a short crash course in the recent popularity of mobile wallet technology as enabled by biometrics.
Mobile Biometrics to Disrupt mCommerce Industry
MWC 2015: Samsung Pay More Distinct Than Generic Name Suggests
MWC 2015: Google Unveils Android Pay
Alipay Implements FIDO For Secure Payments
Daon Highlights Success of Biometric Authentication in USAA Mobile App
Studies Find Apple Pay Use on the Rise in US
Apple Pay Nears 400 US Partner Banks & Credit Unions
RBC Mobile App to Take Advantage of Android M Biometrics
MWC 2015: Visa Wants to Help Apple Pay Rivals
MWC 2015: Nymi Called The Future of Payment
Biometric Software Month: 4 Softwares For mCommerce
American Express Explores Facial Recognition Tech
The Revolution Goes Global
Now, the mobile revolution has gone global, and is most apparent in the Asian markets where OEMs are embracing biometrics at an incredible rate. Fingerprint Cards AB and its partner Precise Biometrics have particularly been finding success there, with a large number of smartphone integrations of their respective biometric technologies on major brand name phones. NTT DoCoMo – a wireless provider you’ll remember from the top of this article as having premiered a fingerprint sensor phone before Apple – brought iris recognition to the revolution just recently. The mobile revolution is still underway on a world wide level, but in order to fully grasp its activity, taking a look at the Asian markets is your best bet.
WPI Orders FPC Sensors, Cements Trend
With Home Market Crowded, Chinese Smartphone Makers Look to India
New Huawei and Meizu Smartphones Use FPC Sensors
Fingerprint Cards Sensor On OnePlus 2
Android Pay, Apple Pay, and Alipay All Poised to Face Off in Chinese Market
ZTE Aims at High-End Mobile Rivals, Sports FPC Sensor
IC Makers Pursuing Fingerprint Sensor Tech
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Stick with us throughout August as we continue to examine the mobile revolution in our featured articles. Join the conversation by following us on Twitter and tweeting with the hashtag #MIDWRevolution
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