The brave new world is one step closer to us, as we just learned about Amazon’s latest payment system. Enter Amazon One, a palm scan payment system of sorts, that requires customers to scan the palm of their hand while entering a store.
Needless to say, the Amazon One payment system works (for now) only in Amazon Go stores and it’s basically a biometric system device that uses a scanner to “read” the palm of your hand in order to allow you to enter a store.
The concept behind Amazon Go is relatively simple. Each user will have to register his or hers palm signature along with a credit card, and the contactless device present in each Amazon Go store will read the palm of your hand, which is now basically your “biometric passport” required to surf the information (and merchandise) super-highway developed by Amazon Inc.
All you have to do is to hover the palm of your hand over the Amazon One device and you’re permitted to enter the store and buy anything you want. According to Amazon, the palm biometric system is safer compared to other systems, as every “customer” has a unique palm signature, that’s recognized by computer vision technology.
The images are stored encrypted in Amazon cloud, hence you won’t have to worry about security, that according to Amazon obviously. The first Amazon One devices will be introduced in Seattle at 2 Amazon Go stores, but they will function in parallel with the existing means of entering the store. For now at least.
Amazon Go stores employ advanced technology that doesn’t require you to checkout after shopping. You can enter an Amazon Go store just by using the Amazon Go app on your smartphone which is linked to your Amazon account, and you can shop without having to check out thanks to ‘Just Walk Out’ technology. Your Amazon account will be billed later.
Amazon also intends to sell this technology to third party retailers, including for things like public entry into stadiums or workplace access for employees.