Study Reveals Clamor For Clamshells With Fingerprint Security

Oct 31, 2008 5:18 PM, MD&D News Staff

A study conducted by AuthenTec, Inc. has revealed that people would like the ability to lockdown their mobile devices with a fingerprint scanner embedded in the device. The study, which targeted people between 18 to 25 years of age, focused on securing data messaging such as text and photo messages.

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According to the study, 89% of the sample use their devices for short message service (SMS), and out of that majority, a scant 14% of the texters use password-protection for messaging or file security. Though it seems that passwords aren’t appealing, 71% of the sample would like to have a fingerprint sensor for user authentication. Beyond that, 14% of respondents claim that they would pay $10 extra for a mobile device with fingerprint security, while only 7% knew that the technology was already available in Japan and Asia. The survey also reveals that users would be more inclined to conduct financial transactions via mobile devices with fingerprint sensors handy. According to AuthenTec, identity theft and network security breaching mixed with a complex and unwieldy password system on mobile devices (which can be costly to reset), have left consumers looking to fingerprint technology for its convenience and security.

“The survey reveals the high volume of text messaging and file transmissions by a new generation of cell phone users, and yet a lack of security to protect these private and personal files,” said Art Stewart, AuthenTec’s vice president of Wireless Products. ”The vast majority of these cell phone users are eager to protect their privacy with a convenient solution such as a fingerprint sensor and an even greater percentage want to see wide availability of fingerprint-enabled phones in the U.S. by the end of 2009. This underscores the opportunity for handset manufacturers and carriers that can offer phones with this convenient and inexpensive security solution to an eager U.S. market.”