Amazon does not stop innovating in relation to any type of technology that can help make shopping even easier in its large marketplace. The retail giant has presented its latest novelty: Amazon One, a service that uses your unique palm signature to authenticate purchases and let you into gated locations, such as offices, gyms, and stadiums.
The service will be launched in two of Amazon’s physical stores in Seattle, Washington, although the company plans to add Amazon One to other of its stores – in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago – in the coming months.
The system was touted as “the fast, convenient, contactless identity service that uses your palm – an alternative to other biometric identifiers such as fingerprint, iris or facial recognition – just hover to enter, identify, and pay.”
You’ll need to enroll on your first visit by inserting your credit card. Then you have to place the palm of your hand on the device and follow the instructions that appear on the screen to link the two. This link is produced by computer vision technology that processes information in real-time. Once logged in to Amazon One, each time you go to the store, simply hover your hand over the device for about a second or so for it to recognize you. It will then allow you to enter the Seattle stores and pay for the purchases.
Amazon One is capable of recognizing your palm in seconds, and with no need to touch anything once you’ve enrolled, it really couldn’t be easier. Your information is not stored on an Amazon One device and is protected at all times, both at rest and in-transit. Also, it should be noted that it is not necessary to have an Amazon account to use this service since the connection can be made with a cell phone and a credit card.
In the event that the user no longer wants to be registered in the system, and wants their information deleted, they can request the deletion of the associated data through the device or through the online customer site, according to the blog post.
In recent years, a large number of companies have experimented with using biometric recognition systems, including palm recognition, as a way to identify users. Amazon’s strong presence behind this technology could consolidate hand scanning as a way to make payments and fully identify ourselves in the future.
