 "FIDO-based fingerprint sensors for Android could come in early 2014")
With Apple’s latest iPhone 5S getting a dose of fingerprint scanners, how far can Android phones be? It has been revealed that Android phones with a technology similar to Apple’s Touch ID are going to be hitting the markets soon.
The FIDO Alliance – a group of about 48 companies led by PayPal and Lenovo – is looking at bringing the fingerprint recognition technology to Android soon. “The intention of FIDO is absolutely that it will allow consumers to have access to mobile services that they can use with very low friction, while keeping good security,” Michael Barrett, President of the FIDO Alliance said in an interview to USA Today. “That’s explicitly what we want to build.”
Fingerprint scanner could come to Android next year (Image credit: Getty Images)
According to the report, the organisation is looking at releasing its work on biometric solutions for Android in the next six months or so. It was also revealed that Apple’s much-talked about iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor, Touch ID is in fact non-compliant with FIDO standards. However, Barrett is confident that Touch ID can easily be adapted to FIDO standards. “Our view is that it’s possible Apple might choose to start using FIDO, but that’s probably a couple of years out,” he says.
FIDO is also looking to push an open standard that could be used by a huge variety of companies that wish to let the user be in charge of quickly and easily authenticating their way into services. The fact that despite having ample knowledge of biometrics, passwords remain our main source of accessing services, is somewhat of a problem the alliance believes.
The Alliance that was officially launched in February has some big names like Google attached to it but has not shown any major results as yet. Hopefully, fingerprint sensor-enabled Android phones that comply with FIDO standards could usher in an era of change.
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