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| With Amazon One you can pay with the palm of your hand |
Amazon today announced its palm tree recognition technology, which will initially convert your hand into a personal credit card at the company's physical stores.
Amazon One uses your palm to recognize you by combining palm surface details (such as lines) with a vein pattern to create a palmistry signature.
This signature palm is used on the Amazon Go Store in Seattle. The company also plans to add Amazon One to its other stores in the coming months.
Later on, Amazon One usage bypassed palm based payments.
"We believe that Amazon has a variety of uses outside of retail stores," said Dilip Kumar, vice president of physical activity at Amazon.
"We plan to introduce them to outside parties such as retailers, stadiums and office buildings so that more people can enjoy this comfort in more places," he added.
Although many companies have tried to use biometric technology to identify palm trees, the significant retail activity of Amazon over the years can help obtain palm signatures.
Amazon has not confirmed whether any retailers, websites, or other companies will benefit (Amazon only), but the company has said it is actively discussing with many potential customers.
Amazon has said it prefers palm recognition over other technologies such as face recognition due to some privacy benefits.
One of the reasons, Kumar explained, is that palmistry recognition is more specific than some biosimilars. Since you cannot recognize a person by looking at a picture of your palm, you will also need someone with their palm on the device to use it.
Amazon One uses an image scanner with computer vision algorithms to capture and encode palm photos.
You do not need an Amazon account to use the service. All you need is a phone number and a credit card.
If Amazon One users no longer wish to use the service, they can also delete their biometrics data from the company's online portal.
Amazon filed for a patent on its palm tree recognition technology in late 2019 and has been in service for many years.
Amazon One first appeared in two stores in Seattle, but the company has ambitions to bring the technology to more locations outside of its own stores.