Author: Lucy

Wearable technology market predictions abound but don’t align

| June 15, 2015

The Apple Watch was seen by many as the hope for the wearables sector’s future, but will it be enough?

There was a massive amount of hype before the release of the Apple Watch not only because it would be the next device from the iPhone maker, but also because many people saw the company’s entry into the market as the future of the wearable technology sector.

Now, the device has been out for a while and predictions have been diverging regarding its influence.

It is certain that the sales of those devices have been strong, and it has drawn wearable technology into the spotlight so that even people who had never heard of a smartwatch before have frequently heard of one, now. But at the same time, the majority of people still haven’t actually seen these wearables in real life. Aside from fitness trackers, most people haven’t actually experienced the use of smartwatches or smartglasses, nor have they seen them on anyone else. So analysts have been coming up with their predictions about the growth of the sector, and it seems that no two are quite alike.

The wearable technology sector is still learning about what consumers actually want from these devices.

Wearable Technology Predictions lack alignmentAmong the primary complaints that had arisen about smartwatches – well before the release of the Apple Watch – was that many of them were very chunky and were not very appealing. Very few people were interested in wearing something that made them look like an extra in a made for TV sci-fi movie.

The offerings have smoothed out a little bit, particularly as many wearables companies have partnered up with fashion designers in order to help to make sure that consumers would feel that the devices that they had to be offer would be something that would be worth wearing. However, there have been several other issues in terms of performance that have arisen and those still have yet to be addressed.

For instance, many consumers feel that the battery life of wearables is too short. The majority of devices that are currently being sold have an average one day battery life. While it may be convenient to plug in a smartphone overnight in order to recharge it, this becomes inconvenient for smartwatch wearers as their gadgets often involve features that track their sleep.

If they have to take the wearable technology devices off, then they lose the ability to benefit from that feature. This could lead to an albeit temporary trend of using the devices overnight, but recharging them during the daytime with portable battery chargers that can be plugged in and slipped into a pocket.

RBC is first bank in Canada to use mobile security with fingerprint verification

| June 9, 2015

The Royal Bank of Canada will now be embracing Android M biometric support for authentication.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has now announced that it is going to become the first Canadian financial institution to use biometrics for mobile security by way of fingerprint scanning for authorization.

This will allow RBC to use fingerprints as another layer of security authorization for its mobile wallet app.

This announcement also stated that the mobile security will be possible through the addition of new features available through Android. Google first announced those new features at its developers conference. They will become available through the use of Android M, which presently remains in the form of a developer preview. That said, it is expected that this version of the software will be rolled out later on in 2015. It has been speculated that the Android M rollout will likely occur at the same time as the release of two new mobile devices under the Nexus brand.

The Android M mobile security feature will allow fingerprints to be detected and analyzed for authentication.

Mobile Security - biometricsThis will allow any app to be able to use the feature to detect the user’s fingerprint and integrate it into its capabilities for authentication.

According to the RBC digital, payments and cards division executive vice president, Linda Mantia, “This new feature heightens security while providing an exceptional client experience with a simpler and quicker process for authentication and payment.”

Furthermore, beyond fingerprint scanning, the mobile wallet app from RBC will also be adding further digital security features through the Confirm Credentials APIs that have been integrated into Android M. This will make it possible for device users to be able to gain access to secure apps from banks and password managers without the need for having to create new PINs, passwords, or other types of security patterns.

RBC will be rolling out its complete wallet app set of features later in 2015 at which point it is expected to make a relatively large update. At that time, it will be integrating the new mobile security features as well as public Host Card Emulation support.