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Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

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Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#151

Post by bastawhiz »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #141
bastawhiz wrote: post #133

I've always wondered what the play was with these. I can tap my card. I can tap my phone. I never leave home without either of those. I can't use Amazon One online, it's purely a retail thing. I need the thing it's replacing in order to onboard. So... Why? If this came around on 2010, it would have been a hit. Maybe even 2015. Now, it's simply redundant, or something more nefarious (but I can't imagine how).

> I can tap my card. I can tap my phone It was convenient in Whole Foods. Prime discount and payment together. Remembering to keep the card on file updated was annoying, though.

If you have the whole foods app, you can already scan the QR code for prime and pay in one action.

And at CVS, I can use Google wallet to tap to use my loyalty card and pay. Amazon didn't have to invent a new thing.

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#152

Post by Auracle »

astrashe2 wrote: post #18
nickorlow wrote: post #4

Wonder what stunted adoption of this? High costs, users not liking it b/c privacy, credit cards/tap to pay being a good enough experience already? The handful of times I used this, it was nice.

My doctor's office was using it. I didn't want to give them my biometric data.

I'm completely unfamiliar with these, but it seems like you need to press your palm against the device, no? The doctor's office is the last place I'd want to do that.

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#153

Post by reaperducer »

llsf wrote: post #124
toephu2 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What problem was it solving though? NFC contactless payments is already pretty fast and convenient. I feel like Amazon One Palm was invented to solve for a problem we didn't really have. Thus the failure.

The fact that you do not have to pull a card or even your phone could make the transaction faster. And it would link to my Prime account so I could get my discounts/points. All with just me showing my palm. Using your palm print (and actually blood vessels network) could be also more secure than tapping a card (NFC contactless). I enjoyed using the technology. I did test other biometric payments like with face at the…

The fact that you do not have to pull a card or even your phone could make the transaction faster.

Except they didn't in the real world.

The only place I ever saw these was at Whole Foods, and the store's POS terminals don't let you tap or palm until all items are rung up and there's a total available.

Usually when the cashier is down to the last two items, I have my card already out and hovering over the chip reader. The transaction completes in under two seconds.

Palm scanning is slower than any payment method other than cash or checks.

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#154

Post by justonceokay »

cmiles8 wrote: post #77

The tech here was good but the product implementation was terrible. These scanners just showed up randomly in places and just sat there unused. I literally both saw them all over and never actually saw anyone use it. No clear onboarding pathway, no explanation as to what it did or why use it, no clarity on what happens to the data. Just a box sitting there. It was as if all the focus was on the tech and nobody bother…

As a business owner you had to pay a monthly subscription to even have it on your counter! A joke product for unserious people

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#155

Post by wiml »

embedding-shape wrote: post #64
IshKebab wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair with scan & go you still have to scan your membership card which would be the equivalent of typing in your phone number. But most retail tech in the US is suuuuper backwards. They were still signing credit card receipts until very recently. The way you pay for petrol/gas is bonkers.

> The way you pay for petrol/gas is bonkers. Wait, what do you mean? This is how it works for us: I go to the gas station, the pumps are locked by default, I await eye-contact with the person inside, wave at them, they unlock the pump, I pump the petrol, then I go in and pay. I'm guessing it's radically different than that and involves signing papers somehow? Almost afraid to ask.

That used to be typical in the US as well. I think that when pay-at-the-pump became the norm (using a card), prepayment became expected even when paying with cash inside, at around the same time. I expect there are some gas stations here and there in the US that still operate the way you describe though.

An increasing number of gas stations are completely unattended though — the attached store might close overnight but the pumps are still usable.

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#156

Post by reaperducer »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #129
vostrocity wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like to go running with nothing on me besides a house key, and it's useful to be able to stop by Whole Foods after the run and buy a snack without a phone, watch, or wallet.

I've consciously reduced my pocket contents from car keys+wallet+phone to driver's license+phone. I'd love to be able to get rid of the phone sometimes.

Most of my lunch hours, I take nothing more than a five dollar bill.

A slice of cheese pizza is $2, and a bottle of water is $1. Then I sit in the park and watch life happen in front of me.

Very therapeutic.

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#157

Post by wiml »

Auracle wrote: post #152
astrashe2 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My doctor's office was using it. I didn't want to give them my biometric data.

I'm completely unfamiliar with these, but it seems like you need to press your palm against the device, no? The doctor's office is the last place I'd want to do that.

You don't need to press your palm, you just hover it over the plate for a moment. I think the hardware is just an IR illuminator+camera.

It does seem like a technology that should have a useful niche. Unlike fingerprints you don't leave partial copies of your vein pattern on everything you touch; unlike face recognition it's an explicit act you take so it can be used for attestation-type actions (like paying). It still has all the usual disadvantages and advantages of any other biometric. Perhaps the unique niche isn't big enough to fit a new product into though.

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#158

Post by closeparen »

stevewodil wrote: post #115
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need reception of any kind to do an NFC payment, as long as the terminal has network access (even through ethernet). the Prime code thing is a good point tho

Prime discounts were automatically applied if you use the credit card on your Amazon account I thought

The scanners were there before this.

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#159

Post by closeparen »

llsf wrote: post #130
munchler wrote: post #80

This seemed like a bad idea to me from the beginning. Giving personal biometric details to a monster corporation is a nonstarter for both techies and normies.

I agree in theory, but yet I have an iPhone, and Apple is managing my biometrics. I do not have Clear, or TSA preCheck, etc. but still my biometrics are in the US database. So, in practice, I am not sure if that is truly a non-starter for "normies" and even some "techies". I already gave up on my face biometrics living in US.

Your biometrics are in the secure enclave of your specific phone. Apple doesn't have them in a database.

Re: Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

#160

Post by qwertyuiop_ »

jnaina wrote: post #142
toephu2 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What problem was it solving though? NFC contactless payments is already pretty fast and convenient. I feel like Amazon One Palm was invented to solve for a problem we didn't really have. Thus the failure.

perhaps Amazon needs to rein in the rapid proliferation of low-value six-pagers and the resulting two-pizza teams. solutions that often look brilliant on paper but are poorly executed or inadequately supported in practice (Amazon GO, Fire Phone, Dash Buttons, Astro, Amazon Wallet, etc, etc)

The said problem statement as described in Amazon 6 pager

Problem Statement Traditional authentication methods like ID cards, passwords, and physical keys are cumbersome, prone to loss or theft, and inefficient in high-traffic environments. In retail, healthcare, and enterprise settings, these lead to delays, security vulnerabilities, and increased operational costs. Biometric alternatives like facial recognition can raise privacy concerns and vary in accuracy due to lighting or masks. There’s a need for a secure, frictionless system that leverages unique, non-intrusive biometrics while giving users control over their data.

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