The end of the year is a time to pause and reflect on the 12 months passed as much as it is a time to prognosticate and predict what may come in the year ahead.<\/p>\n
If this headline written by a biometric identification vendor caught you by surprise, then you may be interested to know the reasons that we predict that 2014 will not be a breakthrough year for the biometrics industry. For starters, the biometrics industry has already broken through to the mainstream, so we shouldn’t expect the coming year to be revolutionary insofar as the wonder and surprise that biometrics is slowly overtaking more traditional forms of identification as we know it — PINS and passwords for example.<\/p>\n
Instead, expect to see continued proliferation of using biometrics for individual identification on a larger scale, thanks in large part to the recent inclusion of fingerprint biometrics on the latest generation of Apple iPhones that lifted the industry up<\/strong><\/a>, an event that vaulted the idea of biometrics from mainly commercial and governmental applications to more personal in nature in the name of convenience and security. It was Apple’s use of biometrics that brought the idea of using this futuristic technology to the kitchen table and water cooler conversations around the world as a viable means of replacing antiquated and unsecured methods of identification.<\/p>\n The increased use of biometric technology for personal use will surely be a contributing factor to the\u00a0rapid growth of the industry but the flip side of the growth coin will see more government and military establishments using more sophisticated (including portable biometric devices) to identify individuals in a host of environments including, but not limited to:<\/p>\n\n