The exchange of goods between human beings is one of the most natural
things which dates back long before the beginning of recorded history.
As trade became more frequent and complex, abstract representations for
value were created and money was "invented". Especially in the last
decades the options available for money transfer and payments have
increased. In the seventies the credit card became widespread and the
growth of the Internet and E-Commerce led to a great variety of
electronic payment solutions. The latest trend in the payment industry
are mobile and biometric payment solutions. Especially fingerprint based
payment systems have been piloted and implemented in several different
set-ups in the recent past. The case study in this book evaluates
biometric payment systems based on the example of digiPROOF, a
fingerprint based payment system which was piloted in 2005 at EDEKA, a
large German supermarket chain. Up to now, customer reactions have been
very positive and EDEKA is at the moment implementing the system in
several other stores and plans to roll out the system country wide in
the long run. The book presents a real life example of a fingerprint
based payment system and aims at giving an academically founded but
practical view on biometric payment systems to enable enhanced decision
making for practicioners and managers in this area.
