1. Client
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PayPal
Country : Singapore
The Straits Times
Section : Home
25 February 2014
Type
: Online
Pay with fingerprint on new Samsung S5
1,593,000 (Daily Views)
http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/world/story/pay-fingerprint-newsamsung-s5-20140225

3. Pay with fingerprint on new Samsung S5
Published on Feb 25, 2014
CONSUMERS in Singapore will be among the first in the world who will soon be able to pay for their
purchases with the swipe of a finger.
This use of fingerprint recognition technology for online payments represents a tie-up between
PayPal and handset maker Samsung, who will introduce a fingerprint sensor in the Samsung Galaxy
S5, which launches in April.
Unveiled this morning (3am Singapore time) at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the
Galaxy S5 is Samsung's latest smartphone flagship model. Aside from the biometric sensor, the
Galaxy S5 will come with a 16MP camera with faster autofocus software, a built-in heart rate
monitor, a faster quad-core processor plus dust and water resistance.
While the Apple iPhone 5s and HTC One Max smartphones launched with fingerprint sensors last
year, the sensor is mainly used to provide secured access to the phone. For the iPhone 5s, biometric
payments apply only to purchases within Apple's iTunes store.
"With this biometric feature, we eliminate the need for consumers to remember another password,
who can instead pay with just one simple swipe of a finger," said Mr Lawrence Chan, general
manager of PayPal South-east Asia and India. Singapore is one of 26 countries which will introduce
this secure payment when the phone launches.
Samsung is also following up last year's launch of its Galaxy Gear smartwatch with two new
smartwatches, the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, as well as the Gear Fit fitness wristband. The Gear Fit will
have a curved screen.
Sony introduced a new SmartBand activity tracker, while Huawei introduced its first hybrid fitness
tracker, the TalkBand B1, which also doubles as a Bluetooth headset.
Nokia, which has long struggled with a small global market share of Windows Phone devices, is
shaking things up with three Nokia X smartphones, which run on an altered version of Google's
Android mobile operating system with a twist - they will come with Windows Store instead of the
default Google Play Store for apps.
sherwinl@sph.com.sg