US Consumers say: Bring it on!

A survey sponsored by AuthenTec found out something. Imagine that. No really, based on 2,000 responses - from adults no less - U.S. consumers appear to be willing to pay for the security that fingerprint biometrics can offer. Specifically, 63% said they would use biometrics for their PCs and laptops, and 71% would use the feature in their cell phones.

What's interesting is that in Asia 4 million biometric cell phones are already in use, and here we are posting about every new fingerprint enabled phone that comes our way like it's breaking news. The US definitely needs to step up. The people have spoken!

Albeit, it is a survey sponsored by a manufacturer, which to me always lessens the validity of it. AuthenTec is a great brand, but they did this to promote their products. When vendors/manufacturers have their hand in research surveys, it could always be a little biased.

Here are the survey findings yanked directly from the article.

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 wallets - 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.

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