Among the dispatches from Mobile World Congress (MWC) two caught my eye because of their implications for shaping simple, secure mobile commerce. First is Qualcomm’s introduction of Snapdragon Sense(tm), a new “3D” technology that will reliably read a person’s fingerprints through glass, plastic and some metals. By integrating Qualcomm’s “government-grade” fingerprint reading technology with the FIDO Alliance’s Universal Authentication Framework (UAF) the company aims to benefit bring the benefits demonstrated by Apple’s TouchID (available only on iPhone 6 and 6 plus) to the next generation of Android-based smartphones.

Beyond smartphones, the ultrasonic approach to fingerprint reading promises to provide more accurate and consistent readings of fingerprints to support authentication on a wide vvariety of commercially available diveces later in 2015. As Quentin Hardy reported in the New York Times, quoting Qualcomm’s vice president for product marketing Tim McDonough, “You’ll eventually see it in watches, cars, gaming devices, set top boxes,” along with certain types of laptops and tablets.”

Intel’s entry into the world of simple mobile authentication is called True Key. Its distinguishing feature is its effortless approach to user authentication. It starts with something Intel calls “facial math,” which it defines and “the distance between your eyes and your nose,” but sounds very much like a variation of facial recognition. Yet there’s quite a bit more magic in the True Key offering. Intel integrates password management, facial math and access control to each individual’s frequently visited Web sites and e-commerce resources.

For voice biometrics solutions providers, the message is mixed. The good news is that the world of digital commerce has realized that “who you are” matters much more than “what you know” and “what you have” when it comes to supporting trusted mobile commerce. Biometric-based authentication – whether it’s based a spoken phrase or measuring the unique distance between your eyes and your knows – has primacy in the world of mobile e-commerce.

Simplicity also speaks volumes in the world of authentication. Apple, Intel, Qualcomm and a passel of prospective biometric solutions providers wait in the wings to replace existing solutions as passwords fall into disfavor because they are hard to remember and harder to administer. Voice will be among them, with over 60 million folks around the world willing to say “At xxxxx, my voice is my password” in order to speed through the customer care lines. But silent alternatives have merit and are about to make their presence felt in the mobile marketplace.

Categories: Intelligent Authentication

Tags: authentication, Qualcomm, Intel, biometrics, iTouch