In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Samsung and Apple are at war and their newest battlefield is made of biometric authentication. Apple introduced Touch ID in September of 2013 and Samsung’s response came this past April, upping the ante with a fingerprint sensor enabled PayPal application.
Over the past two weeks, things have really heated up in this arena, with Samsung launching SAMI, a vital biometric database for developers to use in creating innovative wearable tech health and fitness apps, and Apple opening Touch ID up to app devs with the release of iOS 8. That’s not even to mention that Samsung has revealed that smartphone iris scanning is still being investigated as a possibility and the news that all non-iPod Apple mobiles released in 2014 will sport a sapphire fingerprint sensor.
It’s enough to make a mobile ID enthusiast’s head spin, and it’s not over by a long shot.
Today, the Korea Herald – a publication responsible for breaking a lot of Samsung related rumors – is speculating that fingerprint sensors are headed to the OEM’s smartwatch offerings. This speculation was sparked after Rick Bergman, the CEO of Synaptics, made the following statement during a press briefing in Taipei:
“Probably, you will see fingerprint technology in wearable devices in 2015. Using fingerprint ID sensors for a small curved display is not a big challenge.”
The Herald notes:
“Though he did not name any specific companies, Samsung Electronics, the only client of Synaptics’ fingerprint technology, is expected to use the sensors for its wearable devices such as smartwatches.”
As of right now, the primary type of biometrics featured on smartwatches is vital statistic related, used for health related apps. This news promises to change that, with wearables becoming even more of a battleground for Samsung and Apple to wage war on when it comes to strong mobile authentication.
Synaptics made big news at last year’s Money 2020 conference in Las Vegas, where Mobile ID World got the scoop on it’s acquisition of Validity.
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