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We would all love to wave a hand and make money appear magically. With its new Amazon One payment program, Amazon needs you to wave your hand so the money disappears into its coffers.
Biometrics is based on that, not magic
Amazon One's FAQ says it aims to simplify daily interactions by allowing you to pay, enter, or identify yourself using your palm. It's built to be easy, fast, contactless, and best of all. You do not have to touch something again until you sign up.
If you think that sounds interesting or weird, there are a few things to keep in mind about it and how it works.
1. A picture of your palm, that is then paired with your credit card is generated by a scanner.
You put your palm over an Amazon One imaging system to sign up. Based on your specific distinguishing characteristics, such as the ridges, lines, and veins in your hand, that will establish a "palm signature". The picture of your palm is connected to the credit card you placed on the computer. If you like, you can also check the other palm.
You hover it over the Amazon One computer for a second or two to use your palm. Amazon says, needing the "intentional act" helps you to have control of when it is used.
2. At two Amazon Go stores in Seattle, you can try your hand at using Amazon One to pay.
You place your smartphone, or now your palm, over the computer at the entrance to initiate your purchase before you shop at an Amazon Go convenience store. What you put in your shopping bag is noted by cameras and sensors in the store. Amazon already knows what you ordered, so in the checkout line, there's no waiting. Your transactions are credited to your credit card, allowing you to satisfy the "Just walk out" slogan of the stores.
The Amazon or Amazon Go app is needed for using a phone. If you want to keep a running list of what you ordered, you do not need an app for Amazon One.
3. Amazon envisages third parties using it for authentication or as an alternative payment process.
This would mean that you could pay in stores with your palm, perhaps you would have to shave off your credit card a couple of seconds in time. Reward: There is no need for either you or the cashier to touch your card. Another bonus: You're not supposed to lose it or leave it in the car.
People can also use it to badge in at work and go through a stadium's protection, Amazon says.
"TheVerge.com says this could be an issue:" Amazon One is not a transaction technology. It is a technology of identification and one that could offer Amazon more access to your life than it has ever been.
4. Confidentiality and security may be real problems for a business where others believe we know too much.
Amazon says that palm photos are safely encrypted and saved, not on the computer, in the cloud. Even, because it takes a deliberate decision to use your palm, you just determine where Amazon One should be used. Too much: do we want to hear more about us from Amazon? Is the technology appropriate for any form of monitoring? Can hackers access your palm's picture – and what would they do?
There is something a little puzzling about using our bodies as technology devices or, in Amazon One's case, as a password. This feels a little less crepitty than inserting the skin with microchips that were all the rage in 2018 in Sweden. Chips can operate for events or train tickets. They can open doors, save emergency contact information, or hold e-tickets. Under our skin, however?
We just begin reading our palms' future with Amazon One. Stay tuned. Just hang tight.
