Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

Perceived Convenience vs Redundancy

• Several Whole Foods shoppers said Amazon One was their fastest, smoothest checkout: one hand wave applied Prime discounts, loyalty, and payment in a single step.
• It was especially liked for “phone‑free” use (after the gym, on runs, or when reception is bad) and for self‑checkout where hands are already busy scanning items.
• Others saw it as redundant: tap‑to‑pay with phone/watch or card is already quick and works everywhere, so shaving off a few seconds at one chain didn’t justify new friction or risk.

Privacy, Biometrics, and Trust

• A big contingent refused to enroll purely on privacy grounds: unwilling to give biometric data to Amazon or a doctor’s office for marginal benefit.
• Some argued Amazon only stored derived “keys” from palm images, not raw biometrics, and that spoofing a live vein pattern would be hard; critics replied that:
  • It’s still centralized biometric data that can’t be changed if compromised.
  • High‑quality palm imaging tied to identity is very different from grainy CCTV footage.
• Comparison to Apple: users are more comfortable with Face/Touch ID because templates stay in the device’s secure enclave, not in a cloud database.

Adoption, UX, and Business Model

• Many only ever saw it at Whole Foods; almost nobody saw regular usage.
• Onboarding was considered poor: devices just appeared with little explanation or in‑checkout prompting; merchants reportedly even had to pay a monthly fee to host it.
• Third‑party retailers may have resisted adopting Amazon‑branded payment tech that hands over customer data and strengthens a competitor.

Alternatives and Payment Ecosystem

• Users described complex Prime discount flows via QR codes and apps; others pointed out:
  • Prime discounts can already be tied to cards or handled through store apps.
  • Apple/Google Pay can combine loyalty + payment at some chains without new hardware.
• There’s broad criticism that US retail payments lag Europe (late NFC rollout, reliance on QR codes, clunky gas‑station flows).

Broader Context and Motives

• Some see this as another in a long line of Amazon product cancellations (alongside Just Walk Out, etc.) amid a pivot toward Alexa+/AI.
• A few speculate the real “problem” it solved was Amazon’s desire for richer purchase and biometric data across merchants, while providing limited unique benefit to customers—hence weak adoption and eventual shutdown.