China is streets ahead once it involves digital payments. The most recent leap is facial recognition technology that enables a client to pay by virtually flashing a smile.
Alibaba’s ant financial affiliate launched the ‘smile to pay’ service in Hangzhou, the placement of the company’s international HQ, wherever it's being trialed with KFC.
As the video from and below shows, the payment method doesn’t need a smartphone, forward that the client has already signed up for the Alipay app and enabled facial recognition. A 3D camera located at the location scans the customer’s face to verify their identity, whereas there's a telephone number verification possibility for extra security.
This trial is the culmination of a number of deals for Alibaba.
The company 1st showed off face recognition technology at IFA in Germany 2 years agone once President Jack Ma showed off some basic capabilities, together with the choice to snap a selfie to pay. The choices have advanced somewhat since then. Beneath the hood, Alibaba uses a technology referred to as Face++ from Chinese startup Megvii, that raised over $150 million from investors that include Foxconn.
KFC was a noticeable 1st parent since Alibaba is AN investor in Yum China, that operates the complete an alternative fast food franchises as well as Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in China.
Alibaba has been pushing its vision of the long run of commerce, that it believes integrates parts from online and offline retail. It launched a cash-less store earlier this summer, and it operates ten neighborhood stores in Shanghai that use a mobile app to optimize the client expertise.
It’s simple to see how ‘smile to pay’ fits into that strategy, whereas also boosting the popularity of Alipay. That’s vital as a result of it's closely rivaled by Tencent’s WeChat Pay — a payment system connected to China’s hugely in style WeChat messenger app.
Source: techcrunch
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