By John P. Mello Jr.
9 October 2017 16:26 PT
The use of facial recognition by Apple to unlock its iPhone X could pave the way for developers who are embarking on the conquest of the Android world.
Face ID, which will replace fingerprint scanning in Apple's new $ 1,000 iPhone X, uses Apple's 3D TrueDepth camera to check the owner of a phone and unlock it.
Android developers have been working on similar systems and are about to market them, said George Brostoff, CEO of
Sensitive vision.
"Much of the Android photo [original equipment manufacturers] is interested in facial recognition," he told the E-Commerce Times. "They were all waiting for Apple to make the announcement before they go ahead."
Many OEMs are trying to avoid risks, especially when they manufacture an expensive component such as a facial identification subsystem, but these organizations now feel more at home. comfortable to go ahead with their technologies, notes Brostoff.
"Apple took the risk of innovation," he said.
Hot interest in 3D
According to Brostoff, Android builders are well positioned to offer facial identification products in the near future. "I can tell you from my experience and the companies we work with, you'll see phones with technology in the first half of 2018, and even more in the second half."
The choice of Apple's facial recognition on an under-spread fingerprint scanner will tip the smartphone market toward 3D detection solutions, has maintained the analyst of KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo in a report released Saturday.
Over the next two or three years, shipments of Android devices equipped with 3D sensors will exceed the recognition of underexposed fingerprints by a factor of two or three or more, a- he predicts.
Since Apple's announced Face ID, applications from Android smartphone vendors regarding 3D sensing technologies have at least tripled, noted Kuo.
If his predictions are right, Apple could again transform the smartphone market of superior quality.
"Facial recognition will likely become the stakes of the table for high-end Android phones, including Samsung's Galaxy Note and Google's Pixel," said Charles King, senior analyst at Pund-IT.
"This will also open up important opportunities for biometric identification companies and entrepreneurs," he told the E-Commerce Times.
Difficult to get properly
The weight of Apple behind technology is a powerful force, said Kevin Krewell, senior analyst at Tirias Research.
"Apple is a leader in these technologies," he told the E-Commerce Times. "If Apple promotes them, they will be the next big thing, so high-end Android phone makers will want to match Apple's features."
Face ID will however have to prove its worth by use, which is an unknown until the iPhone X is in the hands of consumers.
"In theory, Face ID is a very interesting feature, but it's a hard-to-use technology," said Jack E. Gold, senior analyst at J.Gold Associates.
"If I am a business, I will not buy anything like facial recognition as a primary user identifier until it works as well as what I've put in. place, "he told E-Commerce Times.
Consumer reaction
How will consumers react to unlocking their phones with their cups rather than their fingers?
"The early reaction of consumers to Apple's facial identification has been a bit polarized," said Patrick Moorhead, senior analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy.
Still, "I believe that true to Apple's form, consumers will embrace it and like it as Touch ID," he told the E-Commerce Times.
"Dedicated Apple customers generally seem packed and enthusiastic," said King of Pund-IT, "but the idea that facial recognition changes the rules of the game will attract new customers to Apple .
There also appears to be some resistance to the use of Face ID among Apple loyalists, whose money is at stake.
Forty percent of US users of iOS who participated in a survey conducted last month said that it was unlikely that they would use facial recognition as a payment security technology, Juniper Research found.
This suggests that a basic use case for the iPhone X's main security feature may have a hard time gaining popularity among consumers, the company notes.
Consumers may be reluctant to use Face ID for another reason.
"If government authorities want to unlock your phone and you do not want to unlock it," said Krewell of Tirias, "they can just hold it in the face and unlock it."
Portrait of John P. Mello Jr. Was An ECT News Network Reporter
since 2003. His areas of interest include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy protection, ecommerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and large electronics. public. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal
Boston Phoenix Megapixel.Net and Government
Security News . Email John.