U.S. Consumers Willing to Pay Premium for Fingerprint Biometrics to Make Life Easier and More Secure

Nationwide survey of more than 2,000 adults. Source: AuthenTec Inc., December, 2004

More than 60 percent of U.S. consumers are willing to pay a premium to add fingerprint biometrics to their PCs and cell phones to help make their life easier and more secure, according to a recent nationwide survey.

The scientific survey of more than 2,000 adults, sponsored by the biometrics technology company AuthenTec, shows that 63 percent of consumers would pay extra to add fingerprint biometrics to their PC and notebook computers, while 71 percent would pay more for this feature in their cellular phones. Most consumers said they would use the technology to replace their PC and Internet passwords, as well as to help transform their cell phones into their personal wallets to conduct mobile commerce and wireless banking.

The nationwide telephone survey was conducted with 2,049 respondents by independent research firm StrategyOne on behalf of AuthenTec during November. The survey has a margin of error of 2.2 percent.

Survey Findings:

In the PC and notebook computer segment, the survey shows that:

• Younger consumers (18-44) are the most interested and are willing to pay the highest price for a biometrically-enabled device.
• Parents also showed a higher interest than non-parents in adding the feature to PCs than non-parents -- at 75 percent versus 58 percent.
• 43 percent are most interested in using fingerprint sensors to replace their computer or internet passwords.
• Navigating the cursor and automatically starting favorite programs were other key capabilities consumers were interested in using.
• Three in ten (29 percent) said they would be willing to pay more than $25 for the additional feature.

In the wireless segment, the survey shows that:

• 71 percent are interested in adding fingerprint sensors to protect their sensitive and personal information stored on their cellular phone.
• Overall, 32 percent would be willing to spend more than $25 to have the feature added to their cell phones, while nearly half (45 percent) of young adults (18-24) indicated they are willing to pay more than $25.
• 60 percent said they would like to use biometrically-enabled cellular phones as a replacement for their debit cards or credit cards to conduct purchases or online banking. Nearly half of those said they would be interested in using a biometric cell phone to purchase items from a store, while 30 percent for wireless banking, 27 percent to gain access to mass transit, and 25 percent for wireless shopping.
• Parents, younger adults, and men are the most interested in using the cell phones as a replacement for their wallets.

"The survey shows that biometric sensors are a huge growth area. We are at the infancy of what will be a very large growth curve, heading toward biometric sensing devices becoming an important feature in consumer electronics," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association.

Consumer electronics already is the fastest growing market for fingerprint biometrics worldwide - primarily in Asia. It is estimated that more than 4 million biometric cell phones, PCs, laptops and peripherals already are in use. And, the adoption rate is increasing rapidly, with new devices being introduced monthly and service providers such as NTT DoCoMo and LG Telecom recently offering biometric phones to secure users' personal information, and enable m-commerce and wireless banking in Asia.

"Fingerprint biometrics are rapidly being adopted in Asia and other parts of the world as the most viable means of providing security and convenience for electronic devices," said Scott Moody, president and CEO of AuthenTec, which has shipped more than three million fingerprint sensors. "We commissioned the survey to determine the level of interest by U.S. consumers for many of the same functions and features that are already popular in these international markets."