ericthehalfbee

Being able to read a print anywhere on the screen would make under screen readers highly useful, and far superior to existing systems.

The obvious benefit is not requiring you to place your finger in a specific spot, which might work great for some people but not others based on size of their hands or how they hold their devices. Now you can use your device the way you like.

Another benefit would be automatic signing into Apps. If you hold your finger on an icon for a half second it not only launches the App but also reads your print at the same time for authorization. This would make it work like FaceID does now - launch the App and it authorizes/opens seamlessly.

The final one would be for security freaks. You could require two fingers to press the display to authorize certain functions (like turning off Find My iPhone or erasing a device). This would be much harder to spoof than a single print.

I find it funny people always complain about Apple and their licensing fees and that “greedy Apple” would never let anyone use any of their IP without paying. This way they can make Apple out to be the “bad guy”.

Now when Airplay comes to TVs (and especially iTunes on Samsung) suddenly it’s Apple paying someone else to get their services onto their devices. This way they can claim Apple is “desperate” and “shifting strategy”.

The only thing consistent is that Apple is somehow always on the losing end.

melgross said:

My question is whether this, and other HomeKit devices contain what is supposed to be an Apple security encryption chip. This is supposed to be why HomeKit devices cost more than others,  none of which have a comparable chip for security.

is this still true? Do all HomeKit devices contain Apple’s chip, or is this something that gone away. I read that a number I’d devices out, and coming out, are not yet compatible with HomeKit, though they are with Alexa, and others, but will have HomeKit in a few months. If so, do they contr]sin the chip, but the software isn’t yet ready, or do they not contain the chip, and Apple has given up on it? If so, that’s very disappointing, because, as we all know, IoT is very subject to malware and break-ins. I don’t want to by a doorbell or lock system without significant security built into it.

Apple did relax the requirements so a physical chip is no longer required for authentication. Apple now has a software implementation to allow authentication. The main difference is the MFi chip had a hard-coded ID and no two chips were the same. Now when a HomeKit device is first paired a connection is made to Apple servers and a unique ID is assigned.

Everything is still encrypted and you should feel confident that HomeKit is extremely secure (esp compared to other systems out there). There's some good information on HomeKit in the iOS security whitepaper.

https://www.apple.com/business/site/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf

Basically HomeKit falls right in line with how Apple views security/privacy.

brucemc said:

Strange, but I did not see this information sprayed across the Internet, repeating on every news channel, along with commentary on the supposed DOOM of Samsung.  Samsung Electronics is a bigger company (revenue and product line wise) than Apple, and their drop in earnings is going to be more, so how is this not front page news?

Samsung isn’t bigger than Apple. They USED to be, but not anymore (revenue wise). They sure do have a lot more products, though.

Apple continues to be the ever-present elephant-in-the-room at CES yet again. Just like they are at MWC.

Even though they don't have a booth, it seems like products that can work with Apple are all over. From HomeKit accessories to AirPlay 2 to Samsung and iTunes support.