Tag: amazon

PayPal leads the way in mobile wallets

PayPal is beating out the competition when it comes to mobile wallets and payment support

PayPal seems to be maintaining its lead in the mobile wallets space. The company established a prominent place in the mobile commerce space years ago, being one of the first to draw attention to the convenient nature of mobile payments and through its offering of innovative digital and mobile services. PayPal has faced down competition from other companies that have entered into the mobile commerce space and has managed to excel where other companies have failed.

Survey shows that 71% of mobile consumers make use of PayPal’s wallet

According to a new survey from CMB, consumers seem to favor PayPal over others when it comes to mobile payments. The survey shows that 71% of mobile consumers make use of PayPal’s mobile wallet, which is being used to make purchases in physical stores and on the Internet. Many of those that have not used the wallet to make a purchase in a physical store have reported that they plan to do so within the next six months.

Apple find success in the mobile payments space, beating Google and Amazon

PayPal mobile walletThe survey shows that 55% of consumers are making use of Apple’s new mobile payments platform, called Apple Pay. The platform is quite young when compared to those offered by other companies, but has managed to attract a great deal of support among consumers. Google is falling behind both Apple and Amazon when it comes to mobile wallets, with Microsoft falling dead last. Of these companies, Microsoft has experienced the most difficulty in entering into the mobile payments space, partly due to the lack of popularity for its Windows Phone platform.

Mobile wallets will continue to gain momentum

Mobile wallets have become quite attractive to consumers in recent years. These platforms have become effective at keeping the financial information of consumers secure. Mobile wallets also serve as a convenient way for consumers to conduct commerce. As mobile payments continue to grow in popularity, more mobile wallets are expected to enter the market, and some of these platforms may eventually provide serious competition for PayPal.

Ear scanning mobile security technology patented by Amazon

This would allow a person to hold a smartphone up to the side of the face to unlock it.

Amazon has now received a new mobile security patent that would make it possible for smartphone users to unlock their devices simply by holding them up in order to scan the shape of their ears.

The patent is for a type of technology that will allow the device to scan the ear through the camera.

The concept of the ear scanning mobile security is not unlike that of a fingerprint scanner. It uses the device’s front facing camera to scan the person’s ear and then conduct a comparison to an image of the owner’s ear that has already been placed on file. The fact is that an individual’s ear is just as unique as his or her fingerprint, which means that aside from the case of identical twins, this can be a method that is just as secure as fingerprint scanning. The exception is in the case of identical twins because they may have the same ears, but their fingerprints differ.

This new mobile security technology would also make it possible to perform a number of other tasks, as well.

Mobile Security Technology - Ear ScanFor example, the ability to scan for a person’s ear can also make it possible for a device to adjust its speaker volume, based on how close it is to the individual. By being able to recognize that it is getting closer or farther away from a person’s ear, it becomes possible to make the speaker volume louder or more quiet as appropriate.

Amazon hasn’t yet stated whether or not it has any intentions to use the new ear scanning patent within any of its upcoming devices, such as the next generation of its Fire smartphone. That said, it is also not known exactly how helpful this mobile technology will be to a user as the majority of devices will allow someone to answer an incoming call without having to unlock it. Speaking on the device is the only behavior that actually requires it to be held up to the ear, which means that in most other cases, it is just as easy to use a fingerprint scan for the purpose of unlocking the device.

It will be interesting to find out what Amazon has up its sleeve for this mobile security feature, as the company has always been an innovator in technology.