Amazon Will Now Let You Pay With Your Palm in Its Stores (vox.com) 44
Amazon accounts for nearly 40 percent of e-commerce sales in the US today, and it takes a cut of even more online shopping by selling payments services and other technologies to external shopping sites. Now, the online retail giant is making a play to grab a piece of brick-and-mortar shopping, too -- and it wants customers to literally lend a hand to do it. From a report: Amazon on Tuesday is unveiling a new biometric technology called Amazon One that allows shoppers to pay at stores by placing their palm over a scanning device when they walk in the door or when they check out. The first time they register to use this tech, a customer will scan their palm and insert their payment card at a terminal; after that, they can simply pay with their hand. The hand-scanning tech isn't just for Amazon's own stores -- the company hopes to sell it to other retailers, including competitors, too.
The technology will be available at the entrance of two of the company's Amazon Go cashierless convenience stores in Seattle, Washington, starting Tuesday, and will roll out to the rest of the chain's 20-plus stores in the future, Amazon Vice President Dilip Kumar told Recode in an interview Monday. Recode reported in December that Amazon had filed a patent application for such a hand-payment technology. The technology could also show up in Whole Foods stores, with Amazon hinting in a press release that it will introduce palm payments in the coming months at its other stores beyondtAmazon Go locations. Kumar wouldn't comment on a potential Whole Foods implementation, though the New York Post reported a year ago that such a plan was in the works.
The technology will be available at the entrance of two of the company's Amazon Go cashierless convenience stores in Seattle, Washington, starting Tuesday, and will roll out to the rest of the chain's 20-plus stores in the future, Amazon Vice President Dilip Kumar told Recode in an interview Monday. Recode reported in December that Amazon had filed a patent application for such a hand-payment technology. The technology could also show up in Whole Foods stores, with Amazon hinting in a press release that it will introduce palm payments in the coming months at its other stores beyondtAmazon Go locations. Kumar wouldn't comment on a potential Whole Foods implementation, though the New York Post reported a year ago that such a plan was in the works.
More Beer For Me! (Score:2)
Re:More Beer For Me! [Security hack?] (Score:2)
You mean that you have made a glove with the palm of someone else on the surface? If they can make fake fingerprints to fool fingerprint scanners, why not fake palm prints?
Rather disappointed there is no mention of such in the discussion.
However, only a minor contribution to my dislike of Amazon. I read lots of books and buy various other stuff, but NO truck with Amazon. Going on 20 years now, but maybe I'll run out of options after Amazon destroys the last alternative sources for stuff that I have to buy.
Total fingerprint collection (Score:4)
Total fingerprint collection - coming to a friendly retailer near you.
I do, however, wonder what's so new here (except for Amazon customers being more willing to sell last remnants of their privacy)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I do, however, wonder what's so new here
A new surface for spreading SARS-CoV-2?
Re:Total fingerprint collection (Score:5, Informative)
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You don't have to touch, put your hand above the unit and it goes from there.
Most disingenuous pick-up line ever. :-)
Re:Total fingerprint collection (Score:5, Funny)
It used to be that expensive stuff cost an arm and a leg, so reducing the cost to part of a hand is a significant discount.
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Index finger for phone, thumb for work, palm for Amazon, retina for military.
The last retailer gets stuck scanning brown eyes until every part of you is mapped.
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Great idea! I still have my Treo 680 somewhere! (Score:5, Funny)
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comment[60553804].moderation += 'funny';
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Oh, I *WISH* I had some mod points to upvote this baby! ROFL
Cheers to you sir!
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I guess it would be too much to hope for support of a Palm V...
Or (Score:2)
Can I use my Aspidistra instead?
How about no. (Score:3, Informative)
Thanks, not Amish just a concerned citizen.
Amazon's palm reader (Score:1)
NOPE! (Score:2)
Not really religious person but..what could go wro (Score:1)
Finally a use for my Palm Pilot (Score:3)
I knew I was saving my old palm pilot for some reason.
The amazing thing is that it still boots. My replacement device, a Handspring PDA, also still powers up.
Those were the fun times.
Palm - Grease (Score:2)
How are you going to pay for this? (Score:2)
Talk to the hand, bitch!
UVC Light? (Score:2)
Great idea and perfect timing. I was really wanting to shake hands with every past customer of a store in a pandemic.
Your Palm or A Palm? (Score:2)
Maybe we need to make it harder to spend money so people save some for their old age.
What problem does this even solve? (Score:4, Insightful)
Paying with my phone has always been just fine at Amazon Go stores. The palm print just does not seem to offer anything new or improved. So what is this even solving?
What Iâ(TM)d prefer to see is Amazon rolling out the existing system in a more widespread fashion. I already choose Go over 7-11 wherever itâ(TM)s an option. It would be fantabulous to see it rolled out at Whole Foods as well.
The Go problem that Amazon really needs to solve... and this will have to be done via lobbying or in the courts, not with technology... is the one of localities (Including, unfortunately, my own.) trying to torpedo stores like Amazon Go from the outset by banning cashless payments. Yes that is really happening. Because everyoneâ(TM)s opinions, habits, and theories have to be equally valid these days; our local politicos are catering to the âoeun-bankedâ. So because some loons think banks and credit cards and smartphones are the mark or the beast or part of the new world order or whatever other lunacy; the rest of us may have to give up the convenience and points from Go and keep waiting on in interminable lines everywhere.
That legislation seems to be on hold during COVID. But the virus is yet another massive point in FAVOR of cashless payment. Iâ(TM)m not sure about COVID specifically. But cash is usually the most filthy thing the average person will touch in their average day. So Go, and other stores using the same system, would be a big win from a hygiene or health POV too.
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All these contactless and people-free businesses are destructive to society itself. The only reason they want to scan your palm is so they can get higher quality data... in other words it doesn't solve a problem it creates new ones by enabling the business to gather more information about you, rather than just doing it's job and stocking the shelves.
and when the homeless guy needs to buy something? (Score:2)
and when the homeless guy needs to buy something? With cash / coins will they have free coin counting / free cash to card stations in the store?
Or do they just get it free with no shoplifting changes allowed to be filed?
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Paying with my phone has always been just fine at Amazon Go stores. The palm print just does not seem to offer anything new or improved. So what is this even solving?
I guess it's for people that want to go shopping w/o their wallet and phone, which seems like a very small, dumb segment of the population.
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It's obvious what problem it solves - the problem of Amazon not being able to lock people in. Standardized NFC-based systems like Apple/Android Pay don't provide enough tracking information to Amazon, nor do they let Amazon grab those sweet, sweet transaction fees.
Necropathy (Score:2)
Just how long will a hand be scannable once it's detached from the body? Or will the sensor also make sure the hand is around 98 degrees? Just asking for a friend....
Hmmm... (Score:2)
I think I would rather have a thief steal my card rather than my hand.
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Pay with my Palm? I got rid of my Palm V (Score:2)
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Funnily enough, I was cleaning out an old cupboard the other day and found my wife's old Handspring Visor.
I also found an old iPod Mini, still in its box. 4GB of music, all in your hand!
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Invasive Surveillance by Amazon (Score:1)
The new product for all law enforcement and oppressive regimes!
Combining our new "drone watching the inside of your house at all times" technology with our patented "sell your biometric data to anyone who wants it " philosophy means you can now be identified for personal service by any oppressive regime or secret authoritarian thug force worldwide! As a bonus, we'll throw in your Amazon purchase history so the torture and waterboarding can be personalized!
Hands (Score:2)
Where do I sign up? I want to start chopping off the hands of the wealthy, like it's Congo Free State in 1892 (except those weren't the hands of the wealthy).
No, I'm not Elon Musk, but look, I have his hand, so clearly I can pay for all of these groceries.
At last ... (Score:2)
My Tungsten E2 has a new purpose in life.
Best double entendre headling of 2020 (Score:2)
the title says it all.
Last day. (Score:2)
Next up, sphincterpay (Score:1)
No doubt, someone will discover that the pattern of wrinkles around peoples's buttholes is unique and the next step will be paying by sphincterprint: "Just step over here, drop your pants, and sit on the sensor please."
The following fall, kilts are the fashionable, must-have item.
There is no limit, none at all, to how far people will push user acceptability limits in order to make more money.
So much for the Book of Revelations (Score:2)
Why not use the middle finger? (Score:3)
Why I dislike biometric passcodes (Score:2)
... can be summed up in one quote:
Welcome, Warden Smithers!