Major Japanese MNO NTT DOCOMO has added iPhones with Touch ID fingerprint scanning to its lineup of mobile devices supported by its FIDO Certified authentication. Now, DOCOMO customers with iOS devices can benefit from the strong online authentication promised by the FIDO Alliance.

DOCOMO joined the authentication standards conglomerate’s board of directors last spring, and has proven intent on improving the authentication security of its products and services. That same year, for example, it also began offering (with Fujitsu’s help) the world’s first iris scanning smartphone, and it has embraced fingerprint scanning via other devices as well. Given that Apple’s Touch ID was the system that pioneered consumer-facing mobile biometric authentication, it’s only natural that it would find its way into DOCOMO’s offerings, too.

Moreover, the Touch ID news comes the same week that DOCOMO and FIDO Alliance co-founder Nok Nok Labs announced they would work together to bring biometric authentication based on FIDO standards to all DOCOMO customers via a unified biometric ID that will be used to access the MNO’s services.

Commenting in a statement, FIDO Alliance executive director Brett McDowell said, “The expansion of cross-platform support from NTT DOCOMO highlights the growing global consensus that using open standards from FIDO Alliance is the right strategy for moving the connected economy off its dependency on passwords.”

(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)