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June 26, 2005
The touch of a finger may replace the swipe of a credit card in a new payment system that backers say is growing rapidly in the United States and has potential around the world, AFP reported. Some retailers and consumers are giving rave reviews for the new system, in which customers use a finger scan to authorize payments from bank accounts. "Every day we install new merchants - grocery stores, car washes, chiropractors," said Tim Robinson, president of BioPay, which has some two million US customers enrolled and claims to be the largest company offering biometric payments. Rival Pay By Touch, based in San Francisco, has signed up major retailers including the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain and is in talks with "the top 100" US retailers and Britain's Co-op retail group, said marketing director Shannon Riordan. "The more pilot programs we have, the more people are calling us," Riordan said. "This is being driven by convenience. You don't have to dig for a wallet or a purse. The other big advantage is security, since everyone has a unique fingerprint and no one sees your (credit card) number." Analysts say "Our goal is to provide the convenience of a secure, wallet-less world where a person can go out for a walk to buy a coffee or an ice cream without having to carry a heavy wallet or purse," Robinson said. Robinson said he expects to expand internationally, but noted that there are obstacles including certain European privacy laws that prevent firms from storing certain customer data. BioPay and Pay By Touch are both privately held and do not release financial data. They are currently in litigation over patents for technology. Kush Wadhwa of the International Biometric Group, a market research firm, said his firm projects sales of $68 million for biometric point-of-sale equipment in 2005 growing to 243 million by 2008. The majority of this is in the |
