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Pay By Touch To Shut Down All Biometric Services Immediately

New announcement from Pay By Touch (aka Solidus) has ceased processing biometric transactions (ie shut down). Remains to be seen what IP held.

source

metric authentication transactions to cease at 11:59:59PM March 19, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - (March 19, 2008) - Solidus Networks, Inc., dba Pay By Touch, regretfully announced today that it will no longer process biometric transactions on behalf of its merchant customers and consumer membership base, as of 11:59:59PM March 19, 2008.

On December 14, 2007, Solidus Networks filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. As part of the company's restructuring, it was determined that the enterprise could no longer support the biometric authentication and payment system as it currently exists, based on lack of funding and current market conditions.

Other non-biometric Solidus Networks business units will continue on their current business paths.

Solidus Networks extends its sincere gratitude to the shoppers, merchants, vendors, investors, partners, and employees who have been supporting the company's vision since its first biometric payment transaction in 2002.

Additional background and comments recommended out on
http://biometricpayments.blogspot.com/

Pay By Touch, which signed up more than 3.6 million consumers for its service, had some success here – at least enough to attract round after round of funding. The Journal once called the company “fast growing” and Pay By Touch routinely issued press releases with titles like “Pay By Touch on Course to Change the Way the World Shops.” Nonetheless, Pay By Touch will stop processing payments at 11:59 tonight, according to the company, at which point the 3,000 or so stores that have installed its scanners will have to take the devices down.

Why did Pay By Touch fail? In hindsight, making something like a biometric payment system mainstream was a monumental challenge, one that could withstand few missteps. And Pay By Touch has had its missteps: The gossip blog Valleywag wrote a seemingly endless string of posts about the shortcomings of the company’s CEO – everything from allegations of drug abuse, mismanagement and avarice. Pay By Touch officials didn’t immediately respond to calls and an email seeking comment, but we’ll update this post when we hear back.

Whatever the reason, it’s another lesson that a technology’s success depends on more than just the technology.

Posted by staff at March 26, 2008 04:17 PM