The next time you buy your groceries or clothes, you can quickly wave your hand. Amazon expands contactless payment using palm-reading technology to more Whole Foods stores in California The biometric system was launched in Seattle last year but has seen rapid adoption from customers and will be rolled out to more branches in the coming weeks.
TL; DR
- Amazon’s contactless payment using palm scanning has rolled out to more Whole Foods stores.
- Amazon One uses your palm to pay at supported stores.
- Biometric data is stored in the cloud.
How does Amazon’s One Palm Scan technology work?
Amazon says it takes less than a minute to set up a palm-based payment-enabled Amazon One account. Customers just need to swipe their credit card and scan their palm with a single device. Adding your Amazon Prime member ID to receive discounts and rewards is also supported. From now on, every time you leave a Whole Foods or Amazon Go store, you just need to swipe your palm over the device.
Currently, Amazon One contactless payment is available in a few cities like New York, Austin, LA and Seattle. Available in additional locations in California including Sacramento, San Francisco Bay Area, Orange County, Santa Cruz and more.
Palm prints hanging in the clouds
If your concern is about security, Amazon mentions that the Amazon One device does not store its customers’ biometric data locally. These images are encrypted and sent in a cloud server before generating your unique palm signature. But if you feel the need to remove your biometric information from the system, Amazon has the option of opting out online or through any store where an Amazon device is available.
Amazon, on the other hand, plans to use palm-based payments beyond retail stores such as sports stadiums and concert venues. However, due to the risk of misuse or hacking of stored customer data, it has received backlash from several organizations.
Do you think the convenience of biometric payments like this palm scan will eventually replace other payment options like NFC or QR code scanning in the future?