Touch ID is Apple’s fingerprint sensor built-in to the Home button that first debuted with the iPhone 5s. A year later Touch ID became an integral part of Apple Pay that launched just after the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and also came to the iPad Air 2. The first Mac to gain Touch ID was the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in late 2016.
Conflicting reports have been plentiful this year as to how Apple will handle Touch ID with the iPhone 8 or whether face recognition may replace it altogether.
If one chart could show just how well-positioned Apple is to make a move into mobile payment, this tweet from Horace Dediu is it. iTunes has four times as many active accounts as Amazon – and since we know from Tim Cook that “the majority of those have credit cards behind them,” that means Apple has at least twice as many credit cards on file as the ecommerce giant.
There has been a little confusion around the numbers, with some sources suggesting Apple has four times as many credit cards on file as Amazon, based on a claim that “most” iTunes accounts have cards linked to them. But the actual phrase used by Cook was “the majority” – which could mean anything from 51 percent up.
Tim Cook as good as confirmed that mobile payment via Touch ID is on the way when he said in January that “it was one of the thoughts behind Touch ID” and “a big opportunity” for the company.
It has previously been reported that Apple plans to allow customers to purchase physical goods from other retailers through an iTunes account, just as can be done in Apple’s own retail stores using the Apple Store app. Just last week, Apple was said to be interviewing candidates from the payment services field.
Via Business Insider
Following our report earlier this month that Apple was preparing to deliver a bug fix in an upcoming iOS 7.1.1 update, today the update is going live as an over-the-air update for iOS users. Apple’s release notes say the update includes “improvements, bug fixes and security updates” including enhancements to Touch ID fingerprint recognition and fixes for keyboard responsiveness and Bluetooth keyboards used with VoiceOver:
This update contains improvements, bug fixes and security updates, including:
- Further improvements to Touch ID fingerprint recognition
- Fixes a bug that could impact keyboard responsiveness
- Fixes an issue when using Bluetooth keyboards with VoiceOver enabled
- For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
Re/code is reporting that both Apple and Google have considered making acquisition offers for payments company Square, with CEO Jack Dorsey said to favor a sale to Apple.
In the last year, both Apple and Google have considered making acquisition offers for Square, according to industry sources familiar with the situation […]
[Dorsey] believes, sources said, that his company’s design aesthetic and values match up much more closely with Apple than Google …
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3C6OW8eMGk]
Samsung hasn’t officially launched its next-gen smartphone, the Galaxy S5, just yet but the comparisons to Apple’s latest model are already starting. The S5 features a fingerprint-reader much like the iPhone’s, so YouTube user iCrackUriDevice put both phones head-to-head to determine which device sported the superior scanner.
Both devices have pros and cons. The iPhone 5s has the ability to scan your fingerprint from any angle, while the Galaxy can only detect a downward swipe across the scanner at a very specific angle. On the other hand, the Galaxy can use its fingerprint reader to authorize PayPal purchases, while the iPhone can only authenticate sales on Apple’s own iTunes store.
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Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair has suggested that Apple’s share price could be temporarily depressed by disappointing Q2 results in March before climbing by as much as 20 percent in response to new products in the fall, reports Barrons.
This gap between what is actually happening at Apple and investor sentiment is providing an opportunity for investors. We believe this opportunity should be taken advantage of before Apple’s next array of products hit the market, though the best time to own the stock may be in April after we get the March quarter/June guide behind us.
Blair cites several factors for expecting the stock to take a hit in March when Apple reports its earnings for its Q2 fiscal year (Q1 calendar year). Among them are the general slowdown in the saturated high-end smartphone market, continued soft demand for the iPhone 5c, overly-optimistic market forecasts for China Mobile sales and a reduction in the number of people upgrading their iPhone as they wait for the rumored larger-screen phone(s) in the fall.
The longer-term outlook is, however, excellent, believes Blair. He expects Touch ID to be rolled out across all iPhones and iPads in readiness for the launch of a mobile payment solution, and he thinks the expected larger iPhone 6 will sell well, especially in Asia.
In terms of completely new products, Blair is predicting the launch of the iWatch in September and a 12-inch display device he expects to see unveiled at WWDC, whether it is the much-rumored iPad Pro or a new 12-inch MacBook Air.
As ever, make your own decisions where investments are concerned …
Via CNET
In the latest release of its iOS Security document spotted by TechCrunch, Apple offers a number of details about the function and processes of the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system offered on its iPhone 5s. The document describes the Secure Enclave, “a coprocessor fabricated in the Apple A7 chip,” which manages safely matching active fingerprints read by Touch ID against registered fingerprints saved by the user. While much of how Touch ID behaves was revealed last fall when the iPhone 5s was introduced and through experience, the white page does list more specifics than have previously been made available…
If a report by SamMobile is correct, Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy S5 won’t just have a similar name to the iPhone 5s, it will also have a fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button. The S5 is expected to be officially announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 24th February, replacing the Galaxy S4, though it may not go on sale until March or April.
It had earlier been rumored that the S5 would have iris recognition, but a KGI Research document pointed instead to a fingerprint sensor, which SamMobile claims to be able to confirm via sources inside Samsung.
We are finally confirming that Samsung’s upcoming flagship device, the Galaxy S5, will be equipped with a fingerprint sensor […]
Samsung hasn’t opted for on-screen buttons and is still using physical buttons, like it has been using in the past on all of its flagship devices. The sensor itself works in a swipe manner, which means that you would need to swipe the entire pad of your finger, from base to tip, across the home key to register your fingerprint properly …
From SamMobile‘s description, the fingerprint technology appears to be less sophisticated than Touch ID, requiring users to pull their finger across the button rather than the one-touch system offered by the iPhone 5s. The ‘swipe across’ type of fingerprint scanner dates back many years.
With Tim Cook having as good as confirmed that mobile payment via Touch ID is on the way, numbers released by the People’s Bank of China and reported in TechNode provide an insight into just how big the mobile payment market could be. Total mobile payments in China last year hit 9.64 trillion yuan – equivalent to $1.59 trillion.
Mobile transactions on just one of China’s mobile payment services reached 25,000 per minute. While China has a population of 1.3B, contrasted with around 317M in the USA, and many of those in China use a mobile device as their primary Internet connection, it still illustrates what a huge opportunity iPhone-based payments could represent for Apple.
It’s been suggested that Apple’s approach may be to allow payment to be made via iTunes accounts, effectively turning Apple into a bank – a prediction I made last September. Using iTunes as a payment method would mean that customers would not have to hand over card details to retail stores. In the light of recent large scale card compromises at Neiman Marcus (1.1M cards) and Target (2M cards), this may well prove a strong reason for iPhone owners to use the service.
Via TNW
PayPal is clearly feeling the threat posed by Apple’s plans to use Touch ID to facilitate payment for physical goods from other retailers: re/code is reporting that the company has offered to help.
PayPal is essentially willing to white label parts of its payment service to be used in an Apple mobile payments system — anything from fraud detection to back-end infrastructure, even possibly down to the processing of payments.
“They’re telling them, ‘We’ll do it in the background,” one of these people said. “Basically, it’s just, ‘We want to be a part of this.’”
The plea is likely as desperate as it sounds, with two of the three payment industry execs re/code spoke to saying it’s unlikely Apple has any need of PayPal’s assistance. Apple has over 575 million iTunes accounts, most linked to credit cards, and already allows purchases from its own retail stores using the Apple Store app on iPhones. Apple also has patents in place for payment via both NFC and Bluetooth electronic wallet systems, so there doesn’t appear to be any part of the process the company couldn’t handle unaided.
PayPal’s relationship with Apple seems set to remain limited to that of a payment option for iTunes and online store purchases, and a reseller of iTunes gift cards.
When Touch ID was first rumored, there had been much speculation about whether the iPhone 5s would act as an electronic wallet, with payments to retailers authorized by fingerprint. While that hasn’t yet happened, it does now seem clear that it’s on the way.
Asked about mobile payments during yesterday’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook gave what is, in Apple terms, a surprisingly direct response.
The mobile payments area in general is one we’ve been intrigued with. It was one of the thoughts behind Touch ID […] it’s a big opportunity …
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TechCrunch has an interesting piece in which it suggests that the sapphire crystal Apple currently uses in the Touch ID home button on the iPhone 5s might prove a cost-effective option for iPhone screens sooner than we thought.
Sapphire is very, very tough. Short of scraping it with your diamond ring, you’re unlikely to scratch it. But it’s also very, very expensive. A sapphire outer layer on an iPhone would likely cost ten times as much as the Gorilla Glass Apple uses at present.
But Apple recently struck a deal with sapphire manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies to boost production by 2000 percent, and GTAT just happens to have acquired a solar panel company that developed a new technique for slicing hard materials very thinly using an ion particle accelerator.
If the same technique can be applied to sapphire, and if it could be combined with a sapphire laminating system already patented by Apple, the cost could plummet.
Apple could drive the costs of sapphire sheets down incredibly low in comparison to the traditional method. It will be able to create many of these super thin sapphire sheets from the same amount of raw material it would take to make one full piece of sapphire cover glass. It could then laminate the assembly together in the way that it currently does iPhones […]
This, in turn, could mean sapphire cover sheets that are harder and tougher than standard glass materials on your iPhone years sooner than most analysts have predicted.
Those are two big IFs, so we’re not holding our breath, but it’s certainly an intriguing possibility.
iPhone 5s Teardown via <a href="http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+5s+Teardown/17383">iFixit</a>
Apple is gearing up to soon begin hardware repairs for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in its chain of retail stores, according to sources with knowledge of the upcoming initiative. These sources say that Apple Stores will be able to replace several parts of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on-site, meaning that Apple will no-longer need to fully replace iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c units with damage or other problems…
When Apple introduced Touch ID on the new iPhone 5s, the company provided some basic information about the kinds of security used to protect users’ fingerprints and data. A new discovery by iMore reveals that Apple has even more security in place than they discussed with the public.
According to iMore, each individual Touch ID sensor is paired with its corresponding A7 processor. To confirm the pairing theory, iMore switched the Touch ID sensors from two brand new iPhones and attempted to setup each device. Each phone failed to recognize the sensors and returned an error until the sensors were swapped back to their original phones.
Apple has released a major iOS bug fix update called iOS 7.0.3, bringing iCloud Keychain, improved password management in Safari, the delay of the Slide to Unlock text on the Lock screen for Touch ID devices, iMessage fixes, and fixes for sensor calibration issues.
Independent reports from CTechCn and 2014 News claim that Touch ID, which debuted last month in the iPhone 5s, will make its way to the iPad 5 and iPad mini 2. The new Apple tablets are scheduled to be announced this upcoming Tuesday at Apple’s media event.
Image: mdy.co.uk
Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore argues in an investment note that Apple’s expected use of the 64-bit A7 chip will make the iPad a much more appealing proposition for the enterprise market.
Enhanced security & 64-bit architecture should drive enterprise penetration We believe enhanced security functionality on iOS hardware is likely to drive greater enterprise penetration over time (e.g. fingerprint and password authentication). In addition, moving to a 64-bit architecture is important to enterprise for several reasons. First, it ‘future proofs’ App development and protects investment for the migration to 64-bit computing over time. In short, enabling 64bit allows enterprises to build custom apps for iPads with greatly reduced obsolescence risk.
It should be noted, however, that one part of his equation – the Touch ID fingerprint sensor – may or may not make it into the iPad 5. We’ve heard conflicting rumors about this, claimed parts showing that appear to be the sensor in an iPad 5 casing on the one hand, with others claiming that Apple wants to retain Touch ID as a unique feature of the iPhone 5s for now.
The iPad has long been popular in the enterprise market, among large and small businesses alike, with Apple having made substantial in-roads into the sector. With the launch of iOS 7, Apple intensified its marketing efforts to businesses. If Whitmore is right that the A7 chip will add to demand, there will be some pleased-looking faces in Apple’s board-room and some worried-looking ones in Intel’s.
Via CNET
Update: Here’s the official word from OtterBox regarding Touch ID compatibility: “The Preserver Series for the iPhone 5s incorporates a thin layer of a specially formulated material that allows for full functionality of the Touch ID fingerprint scanner technology while keeping the case completely sealed from water.”
One of the the most well-known tough case manufacturers, OtterBox, today announced their new Preserver Series waterproof cases for the iPhone 5/5s/5c and Samsung Galaxy S4. It aims to provide peace of mind for smartphone users in wet, dusty, and messy environments. Most notably, it provides protection in up to 6.6 feet while keeping a stylish slim-line design.
“About 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, and technology is almost as pervasive,” said OtterBox CEO Brian Thomas. “We take our smartphones with us everywhere, and OtterBox is dedicated to making these activities as worry-free as possible. The Preserver Series is dependable, seriously waterproof protection that you can trust.”
The Preserver Series is also dust proof and drop proof for tumbles as high as 6.6 feet. All functions remain accessible through the case even though each port and button are fully protected. It is unclear how OtterBox is achieving a complete waterproof solution for the iPhone 5s while keeping access to the Touch ID sensor. It appears the entire screen is covered by a built-in screen protector except for the Touch ID sensor which could be waterproofed with the same technology found in Lifeproof Nuud cases. This would make sense as Otterbox recently acquired Lifeproof. We have reached out to OtterBox for clarification and will update this post when we have more information.
The iPhone 5 Preserver Series case is $89.95 and is available for shipping now. The iPhone 5s/5c cases are not yet available for order and pricing information is not currently known. Save up to 15% on any OtterBox.com order with coupon code AM2012.
Full press release follows:
(via ctechcn.com)
While we take this particular image with a very large grain of salt, CtechCN.com has posted what it claims to be an iPad 5 featuring Touch ID, the fingerprint recognition system Apple introduced last month with the iPhone 5s. The site previously posted leaked iPhone 5c internals ahead of its debut, but otherwise has little track record to judge, and this particular photo offers little evidence of authenticity.
The photo is also sketchy in that the metal ring on the Home button seems to be larger and more noticeable than on the iPhone. It’s unclear if Apple’s Home button design would need to differ on the iPad from the iPhone if Touch ID were to be integrated. Here’s the photo with some enhanced lighting:
The company is set to announce the next update to its iPad lineup next Tuesday at a press event, but it’s still unclear if either the iPad or iPad mini will sport the same Touch ID system as the iPhone 5s. It would be desired for Apple to bring feature parity to the tablet, but there are reasons to still be skeptical without more evidence at this point.
Apple debuted the Touch ID fingerprint scanner at its September iPhone event with the iPhone 5s, but notably left the Touch ID feature out of the cheaper iPhone 5c.
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If you’re impatiently waiting to see the new iPad 5 in the Apple Store, your wait is over – virtually, anyway. Martin Hajek has created some new renders that show the new slimmer-bezel iPad 5 in an Apple Store setting.
The iPad 5 is expected to have the same slim bezel design as the current iPad Mini, to be thinner and lighter than the current model, available in the same colors as the iPhone 5s, be powered by the same A7 chip and to have a larger-aperture 8MP rear camera. It’s not yet clear whether or not it will have a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. It is due to be announced on 22nd October.
Rest of the renders below:
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For those paranoid spy folks out there, SRLabs has pointed out an additional security weakness which could help an attacker use the fingerprint hack to access an iPhone 5s.
The fingerprint hack takes time: around half an hour of actual work, plus drying time. Provided you notice your phone has gone before the thief gains access, you can simply remotely lock or wipe the phone. But with Airplane Mode accessible from the control center on the lockscreen, a thief can simply enable this to prevent the phone being wiped while they are dealing with the fingerprint …
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With the announcement of the new iPads approaching later this month, rumors surrounding the new full-sized iPad have centered around a thinner, lighter design, but it’s been unclear if the new tablet will sport the Touch ID fingerprint authentication system from the iPhone 5s. I’ve heard that Apple’s most recent internal next-generation iPad prototypes have lacked Touch ID sensors, so it’s unclear if it will make the cut for this year. There are a few reasons why Touch ID wouldn’t make sense on an iPad this year:
On the other hand, bringing Touch ID to the iPad this year would create consistency for Apple’s fall 2013 iOS Device line. Apple’s iPhone 5s internal test units did not gain Touch ID until late into testing, so there isn’t conclusive evidence right now for either direction…
http://vimeo.com/75324765
The German hacker who successfully defeated Touch ID using a fingerprint lifted from the back of an iPhone has posted a video showing exactly how it was done.
While the hacker – who goes by the nickname Starbug – described the attack as “very straightforward and trivial,” he revealed in an email interview with arsTechnica that it required 30 hours of work using a scanner, high-res laserprinter and a printed circuit board etching kit.
It took me nearly 30 hours from unpacking the iPhone to a [bypass] that worked reliably. With better preparation it would have taken approximately half an hour. I spent significantly more time trying to find out information on the technical specification of the sensor than I actually spent bypassing it.
I was very disappointed, as I hoped to hack on it for a week or two. There was no challenge at all; the attack was very straightforward and trivial.
Should 5s owners worry that, now that the technique is known, it could be replicated in 30 mins? The answer is ‘it depends, but probably not’ …
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM8b8d8kSNQ]
In a rather nervous video and associated blog post, Chaos Computer Club appears to demonstrate how they can get through Touch ID by taking high-resolution photographs of a fingerprint. Ironically, they claim the hack can be completed with “materials that can be found in almost every household” then go on to say that a 2400 dpi resolution photograph of the fingerprint must be used.
The group claims that Touch ID was only a little bit more difficult to get through compared to other fingerprint sensors, since the iPhone 5s’ scanner is extremely high-resolution. They go on to state that fingerprints should not be used as a secure method of authentication since they are left on so many surfaces and can be picked up very easily.
I managed to pick up an iPhone 5s yesterday and have been trying out its new features and enhancements. Here’s my review of the device after using it for 24 hours…
