Biometric payment system - failure or success?

 It is the recent bankruptcy announcement that brought up debates about biometric payment systems and its future. 10,000 clients were shocked to discover that the new fingerprint scanning payment system, Pay by Touch, that they recently signed up for was removed from their local Jewel stores for good. Solidus Networks Inc, a provider of payment processing has stopped the operation of its biometric units which required its customers to supply their billing information and fingerprints for faster payments.

Some financial analysts attribute this failure to the fact that customers are not ready to let this type of technology dominate the payment methods. Many customers are not sure if they would want to share their biological information with financial institutions. But some analysts suggest that the reason for Solidus' troubles is simply bad management and not the limitations of the new technology.

Many people fear that a hacker could get into databases and pocket their fingerprint pattern along with identity. "Decentralized biometric systems that enable customers to keep their fingerprint information in their own cell phone or personal computer are inherently safer than centralized systems, though nothing is absolutely safe", stated a Silicon Valley-based trend forecaster, Paul Saffo.

Japan and some other Asian countries account for millions of laptops and cell phones with fingerprint readers. The optical sensors that used to snapshot a fingerprint and then to compare it with the one on file cost around $100. The new technology, that uses silicon-based semiconductors that transmit radio waves through the surface layer of dead skin of a finger to the subsurface where fingerprints start to form, is a much cheaper alternative. It would cost only $3 to $4 to add this type of sensors onto a cell phone.

Some mobile service providers are already working with credit card companies and businesses to try out this type of "mobile wallets" to make them available in the next few years. "Commercial biometrics is inevitable. There are huge risks, but it's just so cheap and convenient, people won't be able to resist it. Whenever Americans face a choice between privacy and convenience, they always choose convenience," Saffo said.