March is coming to a close and with it we are bringing an end to Mobile Biometrics Month 2016. Throughout the month we have been taking a special look at the current state of mobile biometrics, culminating in our special webinar, Mobile Revolution 2.0: Biometrics, Smartphones, IoT. Of course, March had its share of industry news on our featured topic too, helping fill out the festivities as we celebrated the latest innovations and ideas in mobile biometrics.
Here’s a look back on the top features and news items from Mobile Biometrics Month 2016:
The Features
Our featured articles section was all about mobility and strong authentication in March. Kicking things off with a primer to get everyone up to speed on the current state of the mobile biometrics landscape, we then continued our featured coverage with a look at how biometrics are improving the smartphone user experience. Finally, last Wednesday we turned our eyes to the topic of end-user accessibility and the many ways biometrics are actually making it into the hands and pockets of consumers, helping drive the mobile markets.
Take a look at the following links to read more:
Mobile Biometrics Month 2016: The Primer
Mobile Biometrics Month 2016: Biometrics Versus Keyboards
Mobile Biometrics Month 2016: 4 Ways Biometrics Are Making it To End Users
The Experts on Biometrics, Smartphones, IoT
The centerpiece of Mobile Biometrics Month 2016 was our exclusive webinar hosted by FindBiometrics president Peter O’Neill and featuring an expert panel: Maxine Most, Principal, Acuity Market Intelligence; Clive Bourke, President, EMEA & APAC, Daon; David Harding, CTO, ImageWare Systems Inc.; Todd Thiemann, VP Marketing, Nok Nok Labs. A recording of the conversation is available below. Be sure to sign up now for the next entry in our webinar series Biometrics, Access Control and the Enterprise of Tomorrow.
Check out the Mobile Biometrics Month 2016 Webinar and gain expert insights into the future of strong mobile authentication:
WATCH: Industry Experts Discuss the Future of Mobile Biometrics
Apple and Samsung Go To China, mCommerce Goes Global
March saw Apple Pay surprise naysayers who were expecting it to fumble on its entry into the Chinese market. Experts were predicting the biometrically protected mobile wallet to fall on hard times in the country thanks to its well established local competition, but Apple Pay saw a whopping three million payment cards loaded by Chinese users in its first three days. Samsung Pay launched in China just this week, following its rival, and it remains to be seen if it will experience the same rosy results.
Mobility, biometrics, and FinTech are all over the world now. In March we announced that our own Peter O’Neill will be hosting a panel at the upcoming Money 20/20 Europe conference in Copenhagen.
Read about how biometrically enabled mobile commerce is going global:
Samsung Pay Has Launched in China
Apple Pay Exceeds Expectations in China
Big Expectations for Biometrics at Money20/20 Europe
Talking About Touch ID
Apple is often positioned as a pioneer in the world of mobile biometrics thanks to the introduction of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5S in 2013. In March, that same technology was making the news again, with a new smartphone announced at Apple’s town hall event, the iPhone SE, which sports a first generation fingerprint sensor. iOS 9.3 was released, offering new functionality for fingerprint authentication, and the latest version of Microsoft Outlook added Touch ID support. NTT DOCOMO had an announcement concerning the sensor as well, extending its FIDO support to encompass iPhone fingerprints.
Here’s how we were talking about Touch ID all month:
Apple iOS 9.3 Lets Users Lock Notes With Touch ID
New Version of Outlook Supports Touch ID
DOCOMO Further Extends FIDO Support With Touch ID
Selfie Pay
One of the big exciting mobile biometrics applications we’ve been patiently awaiting is finally starting to roll out. MasterCard Identity Check (aka Selfie Pay), which verifies payments using face or finger biometrics, began to make its way to customers in cooperation with BMO Financial Group. In February we got a hands-on demo with the technology at Mobile World Congress. Here’s how we were still talking about it in March:
MasterCard, BMO Begin Rollout of Identity Check
Daon Tech Powers MasterCard ‘Selfie Pay’ Authentication
Enabling Mobility
This month we saw some examples of how mobile biometrics are spreading and evolving. An interview we published with Dr. Brian Song, Vice President, Suprema, gave us some insight into BioSign, the company’s aggressive entry into the mobile market which supports incredibly small fingerprint sensors. We also saw Nok Nok Labs and NTT DOCOMO working together to expand the scope of the latter’s biometric login offerings. We even saw mobile time and attendance applications in the news, with a look at Sensory’s TrulySecure integration in Inngresa’s enterprise solution, Inngresa Mobile.
NNL S3 Authentication Suite Supports Android Fingerprint Biometrics
DOCOMO and Nok Nok Labs Team, Bring Biometric Login To Customers
Sensory Biometrics Helping Track Attendance in South America With Inngresa
Fingerprints on Smartphones and Tablets
Of course, nary a month goes by in biometrics without the launch of a new device or two featuring a fingerprint sensor. Here are a few of the mobile devices that launched this month sporting fingerprint recognition capabilities.
Gionee W909 Features FPC Fingerprint Sensor
New Smartphone From 360 Features FPC Sensor
FPC Sensor Featured on Coolpad Pro 2
Microsoft Rolls Out Surface Pro 4 Type Cover Worldwide
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Thank you for joining Findbiometrics for Mobile Biometrics Month 2016. Stay posted to FindBiometrics for all the most important global identity management news. Be sure to follow us on Twitter so you don’t miss a beat.
Mobile Biometrics Month 2016 is made possible by our sponsors: Daon, Nok Nok Labs, and ImageWare Systems, Inc.
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March 30, 2016 – by Peter B. Counter
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