Tech News: Amazon developing hand-scanning technology

“Amazon.com Inc. is reported to be developing point of sale terminals that would accept a scan of a user’s hand to make a payment, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The POS terminals would be placed in brick-and-mortar stores and would negate the need for customers to present a physical card to make a payment.

Amazon is working with Visa Inc. on the terminals and is in discussion with Mastercard Inc. as well. Card providers such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Synchrony Financial are also said to be interested in the technology.

Naturally, the hand would have to be linked to a card prior to being accepted. Of interest, however, is that at least how it reads, the initial model would see that link established by the retailer for regular customers as opposed to the card provider establishing that link in a centralized database. What this would mean is that initially hand payments would be localized to a particular retailer rather than becoming an alternative way to process payments at many outlets as with exiting card payment services.

‘Amazon envisions that customers would first use the terminals to link their debit or credit card information to their hands,’ the Journal noted, adding that in one example that ‘customers might insert cards into a terminal and then let the terminal scan their hands. From then on, they would only need to place a hand over the terminal to pay at a participating merchant.'” Read More

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