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UAE Stores May Soon Accept Payments Through Your Palm
The technology is known as PalmPay and will be rolled out throughout 2024, allowing users to leave their phones and bank cards at home.
Shoppers in the United Arab Emirates may soon be able to leave their phones and bank cards at home as a new payment technology rolls out across the country this year.
PalmPay, a system devised by developers Astra Tech, uses contactless biometric palm recognition technology. It allows users to hover their hand over a payment terminal to make a payment, just like in a sci-fi movie.
“The rollout of the PalmPay technology is planned to happen gradually throughout 2024,” Abdallah Abu Sheikh, founder of Astra Tech, explained. “We currently have a certain number of machines which will be used for testing purposes within the local market infrastructure [ensuring] complete readiness for scaling to over 50,000 PayBy merchants throughout the year,” Sheikh added.
PayBy is a popular UAE payment platform and fintech subsidiary of Astra Tech. The company also has plans to integrate the palm recognition technology with banks “in the future”, enabling users to link their accounts with it.
PalmPay will be free for users who will be able to register using their devices at special point-of-sale terminals. In the future, palm authentication will be integrated into apps, allowing customers to update their accounts with palm prints through an authentication feature on their phones.
Also Read: A Guide To Digital Payment Methods In The Middle East
Astra Tech says the technology is more secure than traditional card payments and is not limited to specific industries or sectors. The company believes PalmPay will work especially well in high-volume sectors such as retail stores and could significantly speed up the checkout experience during busy times.
Aside from the wow factor, PalmPay is said to be a “cost-effective solution” for merchants and could help “financial inclusion for the unbanked population”, Astra Tech explained.
News
NASA Forms New Partnership With Saudi Space Agency
The pair will collaborate on the Center for Space Futures, advancing space tech by bringing together public and private stakeholders.
Saudi Arabia’s space industry is on the brink of substantial expansion after generating $400 million in revenue in 2022, according to a report by the Saudi Communications, Space and Technology Commission.
Now, in a new venture with NASA, plans for a “Center for Space Futures” are set to further drive the Kingdom’s aspirations of becoming a leading player in space exploration and technology.
Capturing moments from the joint delegation visit with leaders from the Saudi and American Space Agencies @NASA to @PSU_RUH, along with scenes showcasing the audience's engagement. pic.twitter.com/oB1cFTiRNl
— وكالة الفضاء السعودية (@saudispace) May 14, 2024
The partnership between NASA and Saudi Arabia goes beyond economic advantages. The pair have already cooperated on preliminary work for the Artemis II lunar mission, which is slated for a September 2025 launch and aims to land astronauts near the moon’s South Pole.
Also Read: Plans Underway For Massive Middle East Autonomous Freight Network
During a visit to the capital, Riyadh, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized in a TV interview the broader objectives of the collaboration, which encompass “returning to the moon and then [to] Mars” while utilizing space exploration to glean important insights into climate change. The NASA spokesman also reiterated the space agency’s dedication to collaborating with Saudi Arabia on other future ventures.
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