Frost & Sullivan Finds Integration of Biometrics in Consumer Electronics a Fast-Emerging Trend

Frost & Sullivan last week reported that market dynamics in the biometrics industry are shifting, as these technologies find increasing use in consumer electronic products. Many computers and laptops already use biometrics, and several tier-one manufacturers, most notably Apple and Samsung, are now looking to introduce biometrics into devices, such as mobile phones, to distinguish their high-end products in the market.

According to Frost & Sullivan's "Innovations in Biometrics for Consumer Electronics" report, fingerprint recognition will remain the leading biometric technology used in consumer electronics, but voice and face recognition technologies likewise should find higher usage depending on the security requirement of the application. Iris recognition and multimodal biometrics will rapidly grow in the next three years due to their accuracy, although the high cost and large size of iris recognition systems could hinder widespread uptake, the firm said.

Frost & Sullivan predicts, though, that for more large-scale implementations to occur, more established, cheaper biometric solutions will need to become available, given that high costs deter end users. Further, biometric features are still not considered essential on consumer electronics, and customers who do use these usually opt for less-expensive alternatives, such as pass codes and tokens.

A lack of standardization is also a hindrance, reducing the ability of biometric software to function across consumer electronic devices, according to the research firm. Establishing standards will be crucial to allow the use of biometric technologies with minimal integration.

"The capabilities of near field communication and cloud computing can be combined with biometrics to explore new market opportunities in mobile commerce applications," said Technical Insights Research Analyst Mousumi Dasgupta, in a statement.. "In fact, mobile network operators and cloud service providers are expected to enter the biometrics for consumer electronics market to fully utilize the security and convenience offered by biometrics."