[justino1284]

So I think that having a fingerprint scanner is probably one of the most gimmicky things. I think it's fairly useless and stupid (obviously that's my opinion!) However, with that being said, I think it would be something fairly interesting--albeit still kinda useless--but to incorporate a scanner into the keyboard somehow on the passport! A lot of people I show my passport too are impressed by the keyboard capabilities; I think BB should incorporate more keyboard surprises!

Thoughts?!

[Ment]

Apple bought AuthenTec, which had the best solution at the time in 2012 and Android like Samsung phones are just now catching up. Eventually BB will get it too. Other non-fingerprint biometric solutions are too slow or bad from usability perspective.

[R1cowl]

There is a down side to the fingerprint lock. Police may be able to force you to unlock your phone. There are a lot of articles on this but here is one...

Judge Rules Suspect Can Be Required to Unlock Phone With Fingerprint - Digits - WSJ

[justino1284]

I mean, personally, I still like the picture password better!

[fanisk]

I am fine also with the picture password!

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport

[Ment]

Picture PW will never be a means of corporate authentication due to the high variability of its implementation, so atm its as 'gimmicky' as fingerprint. The difference is Apple has the horsepower to get TouchID to be used in place of passcode and once that happens, Samsung will come along to push its fingerprint authentication for Knox.

[Henry Jr]

Should come with a 'Share with the NSA' button? LOL

Q10 (SQN100-3 : 10.3.2.158), Passport (SQW-100 : 10.3.1.1779)

[bhoqeem]

So I think that having a fingerprint scanner is probably one of the most gimmicky things. I think it's fairly useless and stupid (obviously that's my opinion!) However, with that being said, I think it would be something fairly interesting--albeit still kinda useless--but to incorporate a scanner into the keyboard somehow on the passport! A lot of people I show my passport too are impressed by the keyboard capabilities; I think BB should incorporate more keyboard surprises!

Thoughts?!

Gawd! No, dude. Just no. BlackBerry is not part of that useless and silly hype. And it's stupid in terms of security for a device, IMHO.

Posted via my amazing BlackBerry Passport SQW100-1

[SunshineStateFlyer]

I personally think a fingerprint scanner is quite interesting as long as it is perfectly implemented, which is actually the problem. Apple is the only company featuring a properly working solution.

The use cases can be quite versatile though, like the technology can be used within apps as method of authentication or as an additional security feature for payments and such.

However, at this time I think it doesn't make sense for BlackBerry to invest in this expensive technology. There are other fields that need improvement first and at the end of the day I think the introduction of a fingerprint sales wouldn't significantly increase sales.

Posted via CB10

[RyanGermann]

I think a fingerprint scanner or some kind of very simple mobile payments enablement is vital.

Android M is going to have native fingerprint scanner support, and Android Pay is coming to compete with Apple Pay... but who has the worldwide secure network that could facilitate this?

Perhaps BB10 needs an icon on the Lock screen that is similar to the Camera icon: press and hold it and you can take a picture without unlocking the device... press and hold the "Pay" icon and you enter a special PIN that puts the device into "geo-location-aware NFC payments mode" i.e. if it knows I'm in a Tim Horton's activate the Timmy Me payment feature, but if I"m in a grocery store, activate the general credit card payment process.

It doesn't have to be a fingerprint scanner, but it has to be directly available from the device "lock" screen with minimal extra effort. The current process of having to unlock and navigate to the appropriate app and get through that app's UI to the "payment" option is a non-starter.

I think the discussion of mobile payments on BB10 deserves it's own topic.

[dslocumb]

NO WAY I want a fingerprint scanner on my BlackBerry! No thank you! If you fall asleep and your 9-year-old son can unlock your device by holding it up to your finger; I'm good. Not to mention where your fingerprint(s) may be stored.

I'd NEVER use that technology.

[step07]

I like how quick it is to unlock the device on iphones, however I just don't trust my finger print floating about in space or being stored on a database somewhere...

Posted via CB10

[early2bed]

The negative potential about fingerprint scanners are going to either rear their ugly heads or dwindle as adoption increases. I doubt we are going to settle the issue on the pages of these forums (fingerprints aren't stored anywhere, BTW). Some of the most popular iOS apps now use Touch ID in place of their password login for social media, financial transactions, home automation, etc. It's a great feature.

The question is whether a mobile platform, enterprise or other, that doesn't offer this technology can satisfy users. If about half of all smartphones are never even locked then making locking/unlocking more convenient is a big part of mobile security.