‘Floodgates Have Opened’ For Biometrics Industry Following Christmas Demand

Christmas 2014 has been a bumper year for the biometrics industry, with consumers capitalising on mobile payment technology to do their seasonal shopping more than ever.

This is according to research firm Acuity, which said that this year the long anticipated floodgates for consumer biometrics may finally be open.

The firm forecasts that intensifying demand for smart phones, tablets, and wearable mobile devices that incorporate biometrics will drive a global market of 2.5 billion users with nearly 4.8 billion biometric devices by 2020.

Biometrics will ‘surge’

Maxine Most, Acuity Market Intelligence principal, said: “The market for biometrically enabled mobile devices will surge over the next five years. Apple’s launch into biometrics and payments will be followed by similar efforts by Samsung and others, and within 3 years, biometrics will become a standard feature on smart phones as well as other mobile devices.”

Most, a biometric identity and security technology expert, continues “Wearables including smart watches, Google’s re-envisioned Google Glass, along with form factors yet to be seen, will burst onto the market and fundamentally change the way we think about and manage communication, payments, personal transactions, healthcare, and social interaction. All of these devices will include embedded biometrics as well as options to download software-based biometric apps.

“Acuity projects that embedded fingerprint sensors will initially dominate the market becoming standard in smart phones and tablets by 2017, generating more than $1.5 billion in annual revenues. Emerging biometric sensors that rely on an individuals pulse, skin texture, or other yet unknown metrics will evolve rapidly, especially on wearables,” said Most. “This is in addition to biometric apps, such as facial or eye based recognition, that will leverage the camera or other built-in device features.”

Last week, it was revealed that Apple’s mobile payment service Apple Payment could be coming to the UK sooner than expected.

A job advert for an Apple intern based in London contained information that said Apple Pay will soon be rolling out in Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa.

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