When Apple announced the iPhone 5s, one of the key features of the handset was its Touch ID fingerprint sensor. As the sensor could be used to unlock the phone and make purchases on the iTunes App Store, it is understandable that Apple did not want developers accessing the Touch ID sensor, even if it meant that its functionality would be somewhat limited.
In fact Apple got a lot of flack over the security of Touch ID, where a US Senator even wrote to Tim Cook questioning him about the security of fingerprint storage. However it seems that despite all those concerns, Samsung has decided to open up its fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S5 to developers. This is according to the company who announced their decision at MWC 2014.
This move by Samsung is certainly a very huge contrast to Apple who went to great lengths to ensure that the fingerprint information collected was secure, and how it would not be accessible by anyone else.
It is unclear how Samsung will be securing the fingerprint data stored on their phone, but already we can see Samsung implementing their plan by partnering up with PayPal to allow fingerprints to be used to make payment verification.
So far there does not seem to be too much backlash or concerns raised by Samsung’s announcement, although whether or not that will change down the road remains to be seen, but what do you guys think? Is this a good idea by Samsung?
