Pay with Your Palm: Amazon’s Hand Scanning Payment System is the Future

Remember the time when digital payment methods were regarded as the future of an innovative payment system? Well, guess what,with Amazon’s hand scanning technology, the best is yet to come.

Technological giants, Google and Apple, have made payment methods convenient.  We no longer have to carry our wallets to pay off our purchase. However, rumors have it that another tech giant is planning on factoring our smartphones with the future alternative payment method technology.

As per the Wall Street Journal reports, the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon is planning to put your hand to a better use by introducing hand-scanning technology for purchase at Wholefoods.

Amazon shops and other merchants are planning to help customers by offering a hand-based payment method. This innovative and alternative payment method will link your account information to your palm. Upon checking out of the store all you’ll do is use your hand for remittance.

Let’s dig in further and see how Amazon is working on the future of payment methods in 2020: 

In 2019, rumors aboutthe e-tailing giant working on the hand-payment method, Orvillestarted surfacing. The New York Times reported that the company is planning to develop a system that can identify and keep records of different sizes and shapes of customers’ hands.The code name used for this project is, “Orville” and Amazon is planning to roll out this alternative payment method option at some Whole Foods locations by early 2020.

Amazon, however, refused to comment on the report.

On December 26, 2019, a patent application was published by Amazon technologies that gave more hype to this news. The patent showed a “non-contact biometric identification system,” described as a hand scanner that can capture images of users’ palms. As per the patent, the technology can even capture palms with wrinkles and veins. The document further suggested that the application can be used in libraries, stores, hospitals, and offices.

The patent also mentioned the use of the application in combination with point-of-sale devices and conjunction with robots for grocery shopping and package delivery service.

Is Amazon’s Hand Payment Method a Far-Fetched Idea?

Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” shopping experience may seem like a far-fetched idea to some. However,before you just discard this payment with hands idea, read on.

The mega online retailer decided to roll out a unique shopping experience for its customers called Amazon Go. The company used to describe Amazon Go stores as cashless stores. All a customer needed to do was pick out the grocery and check out.

The technologies used for this unique shopping experience are similar to what’s used in self-driving cars. Computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning technologies detect when products are taken from the shelves or returned to shelves. It also keeps tracks of the item purchased in virtual cart.When customers leave a store with goods, their Amazon account is charged and a receipt is sent.

The concept that once seemed hard to believe has now been implemented in 13 stores. There arefour Amazon Go Stores in Seattle, four in Chicago, three in San Francisco and two in Manhattan and more in the works.

So, this proves that Amazon’s new plan, the hand payment method, could also be realistic.Reports even claim that Amazon has already started progress in making this technology functional. The company is reportedly in talks with Mastercard for Visa transactions.

So, it’s safe to say that if everything went according to Amazon’s plan, we will soon see an alternative payment method in the market. Needless to say that this payment will also depend on high-speed internet.

Conclusion

The hand payment method is being considered as one of its kind payment methods, but the Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba debuted with somewhat similar technology back in 2017. Smile-to-pay technology is a facial recognition payment technology by Alibaba for commercial use.However, in cases you’re not willing tosmile for payment, then Amazon’s hand payment method, you can just wave off the payments.