Mobile Biometrics Month 2017: The Primer

March is Mobile Biometrics Month 2017 at FindBiometrics, and what a time to take an in-depth look at one of the most rapidly evolving areas of identity and authentication technology. To get things started on the right foot, we have put together the following primer to provide you with a snapshot of mobile biometrics today.

The View From Mobile World Congress

As of this writing FindBiometrics and our sister site Mobile ID World are in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress: the most important mobile industry conference of the year. Biometrics and authentication are a major theme at MWC this year, with fingerprint sensor innovation sharing the spotlight with contactless modalities as the mobile industry as a whole prepares for the launch of the world’s first commercial 5G networks in only a few years time.

FindBiometrics president Peter O’Neill caught up with GSMA’s head of Applications & Services, David Pollington, at the Innovation City exhibit to talk about the important role biometrics is playing in enabling the next generation of connectivity. Listen to the interview at the link bellow:

MWC 2017 Audio Interview: David Pollington, Head of Applications & Services, GSMA

The Mobile Biometrics Market

We are on track to see full biometric proliferation on mobile devices by next year, according to new research from Acuity Market Intelligence forecasting that every smartphone shipped in 2018 will sport biometrics. That sort of ubiquity is important for a number of reasons, but a key factor that comes with it is accessibility. Acuity’s research has highlighted that of the 500 biometric smartphone models currently on the market, a sizable amount are in affordable price ranges. This low price point plays an integral role in putting biometrics in the hands of users, familiarizing them with biometric technology, and inevitably enabling them to use the growing number of biometric authentication options available for banking, payments, online login, enterprise mobility, government services and more. Take a look at some of the recent mobile biometrics research we’ve reported on:

Cheaper Biometric Smartphones Flooding Global Market: Acuity

All Smartphones Shipped In 2018 Will Feature Biometric Tech: Acuity

Acuity Predicts Mainstreaming of Iris, Behavioral Biometrics for 2017

2017 to See a Billion Active Biometric Mobile Devices: Deloitte

Next Generation Mobility

Mobility is not just smartphones anymore. Innovations in Internet of Things (IoT), connected cars, augmented reality, virtual reality, wearable tech, and artificial intelligence are all spaces where biometrics are finding a foothold. The following news stories collected form the past few months will help illustrate how innovations in connectivity are expanding the definition of mobility, and how biometrics are finding themselves along for the ride.

Can Biometrics Protect Connected Cars From Digital Theft?

Biometrics On Track for Automotive Sector: Delta ID

Delta ID Tech Powers Iris-Scanning Driver Authentication System

BioLock Brings ECG Authentication to Vehicles

Start Your Hyundai Genesis’ Engine With Remote Voice Command

BIO-key Aims to Wow With Biometric Padlocks at CES 2017

Wearable Biometrics To Aid In Understanding Conversations

LG’s Hub Robot Responds To Voices, Recognizes Faces

Alexa Comes To Bluetooth Headsets Via VoiceGenie

IriTech, Egis Tech Team Up to Target AR, VR, Automotive Markets

Fujitsu Announces New Mobile Biometric Authentication Platform For IoT ID

Multimodality

While Touch ID on the iPhone kick-started the biometric revolution in smartphones, starting the trend of handsets shipping with embedded fingerprint sensors, today there is nary a biometric modality that isn’t available on some kind of mobile hardware. Face and voice recognition—thanks to their software-based nature that takes advantage of standard cameras and microphones—are being built-in to mobile apps. New flagship phones are shipping with iris scanners. Behavioral biometrics are able to measure how users interact with and hold their devices, while wearable tech is becoming the medium to carry cardiac signal authentication. Even modalities that have traditionally been too expensive or demanded too much design space to be feasible on mobile devices are coming to mobile, with palm vein biometrics now featured on some tablets.

The following news stories will provide an overview of the increasingly diverse range of modalities available on mobile devices:

DOCOMO and Nok Nok Labs Team, Bring Biometric Login To Customers

Safran Brings Liveness Detection to Selfie-Check System

ImageWare to Showcase SAP HANA Cloud Integration at MWC

Safran, FotoNation Team to Offer Aadhaar-Ready Mobile Iris Scanning

Eyeprint ID Arrives in Europe Via Yapi Kredi

Looks Like Iris Scanning is Coming to Samsung’s Galaxy S8

New Fujitsu Palm Vein Scanning System Offers Mobile Applications

VeriTran Offers Sensory Biometric Authentication Solutions to Clients

BioCatch Heralds Rise of Behavioral Biometrics

Israeli Bank to Introduce Passive Mobile Behavioral Authentication

Fingerprint Sensor Evolution

Even with that shift to multimodality, Fingerprints are far from passe. Now that fingerprint sensors are all but standard features on smartphones and tablets, the biometric technology has reached the next step in maturity: it must evolve with the design demands of the mobile industry at large. At the moment, this relationship is manifesting as a race to develop in-display fingerprint sensors that enable efficient button-free design by OEMs, and have potential as a smartwatch authentication solution. Meanwhile a focus on improving the technology’s efficacy and functionality via liveness detection and other invocations is becoming a priority in this space. Read about the latest fingerprint innovations below:

Precise Biometrics Finalizes NexID Acquisition

MWC 2017: New Functionality Lets FPC Sensors Detect Pressure

Goodix Wins CES Innovation Award for Liveness-Detecting Fingerprint Sensor

IDEX to Show Off ISO-ID1 Solution at CES 2017

New Apple Patent Outlines Full-Display Fingerprint Scanner

MWC 2017: BlackBerry KEYone Sports First Ever Smartphone Keyboard Fingerprint Sensor

Goodix Announces In-Display Fingerprint Sensor at MWC

MWC 2017: New Huawei Smartphone Features Under-Glass Sensor

IDEX to Show Off New Glass and Ceramic Sensors at MWC

FinTech

Payments and banking have long been the go-to use case for mobile biometrics. Banking apps and mobile wallets embraced biometric authentication early on, and as such gave users and service providers something to do with all the sensors and identity software available to them. Fingerprint and iris are the modalities of choice by the leading mPayment platforms, but financial services providers and banks lean toward software solutions that are flexible enough to serve customers regardless of the unique hardware on their handset. Check out some of the latest news stories about biometrics, mobility, and money.

Visa, BioConnect Working to Eliminate Password on Mobile

Citibank Deepens Commitment to Biometric Authentication With Touch ID

Apple Pay Support Dramatically Expands in Russia

FIDO Celebrates Money20/20 Success

Money20/20: AI Banking Assistant ‘Eva’ Can Recognize Speech and Voices

Samsung Pay Receives Iris Scanning Upgrade

Daon to Develop Biometric Authentication Platform with Japanese Banks, NTT Data

HSBC Intensifies Biometrics Embrace with Selfie System

Mastercard Study Shows Consumer Interest in Biometric mPayments Security

Mastercard Identity Check is Coming to Australia

Vertical Proliferation

The days of FinTech dominating the biometrics conversation are slowly coming to an end now that mobile biometrics are being embraced by a wide range of vertical markets. Enterprise mobility management, applications in healthcare, enrollment in national ID programs, law enforcement identification and booking procedures—these are just some of the spaces mobile biometrics are enabling strong authentication and identity.

Healthcare Communications App Uses ImageWare’s Biometric Tech

Nymi Illustrates Rise of Biometrics, Wearables in the Enterprise

Veridium Launches Multimodal Enterprise Solution Designed For Microsoft Active Directory

Sensory Speech Command Tech Integrated Into Enterprise Smartglasses

There’s Major Opportunity For Biometric Wearables in Law Enforcement

UK Gov’t Allows Mobile Photos for Renewing Passports

Indian Gov’t Announces Aadhaar Mobile Payment App

Korea Gets Specialized Mobile Biometric Authentication Service

GIS 2016: Crossmatch Unveils Innovative New Mobile Livescan Tech

The Mobile Conversation

Mobile biometrics are in a state of perpetual development and innovation, so the dialogue surrounding the technology is always changing. At FindBiometrics we are consistently engaging industry experts in this conversation so you can keep your finger on the pulse of the latest thinking in strong authentication and identity tech in the mobile sphere. Here are some recent interviews that will give context to the market as we start Mobile Biometric Month 2017.

INTERVIEW: Aware’s David Benini

INTERVIEW: Samsung SDS America’s Approach to Biometrics

INTERVIEW: Javier Mira, CEO & Co-founder, FacePhi

INTERVIEW: Joey Pritikin, VP Marketing and Product Management, Tascent

INTERVIEW: Tom Evangelisti, Director, Mobile Business Development, ImageWare Systems

INTERVIEW: Frances Zelazny, Vice President of Marketing, BioCatch

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Stay posted to FindBiometrics throughout the month of March as we continue to focus on the rapidly evolving mobile biometric market. Be sure to sign up for our Mobile Biometrics Month 2017 Webinar, and follow us on Twitter to stay on top of all the most important identity management news.