October 17, 2022
At the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Amazon’s “One” payment technology for palm scanners is being used for the first time, allowing users to pay for an item in a store with a hand wave.
So far, four Amazon One devices have been installed at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, but they will be replaced in every store in America in 2021 as part of a wider roll-out of Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.
The palm-recognition payment was introduced separately from the “Just Walk Out” cashier-less platform for the first time on Saturday night during the Seattle Kraken’s NHL home opener against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Fans paid for food and drink by simply holding up their palm at three concession stands in the arena: Modelo Cantina, Metropolitan Grill and 1st Ave Nachos, and there were 18 Amazon One devices on each of them.
Users link their palm and payment card to the service by going to a kiosk or point of sale at participating locations, and then using a hand-held scanner during the checkout process to complete the transaction.
The device works by capturing a user’s palm signature, which serves as unique human identification after it has been verified by custom algorithms that create a map of the user’s palm. Images are then encrypted and sent to a highly secure area of the cloud where Amazon generates a palm signature.
According to Amazon, palms were chosen as biometric authenticators because they require a conscious gesture to activate and provide more privacy than facial recognition, because identities cannot be determined by a handprint alone.
The sources for this piece include an article in ZDNet.
