Fingerprint scanner, iOS keychain, and fingerprint functions for developers
These features would:
- eliminate the long alphanumeric passwords currently required by government and corporate networks;
- provide secure authentication for mobile payments, including purchases from the Apple Store, as well as wireless payments made to vendors using near field communication or Bluetooth;
- simplify web login/password entry for the web, whereby a fingerprint scan would populate the user's login/password and personal information from a secure password store (IOS Keychain) in Safari;
- eliminate login/password entry for third-party iOS7 applications (e.g., your bank's IOS app), by allowing third-party developers to substitute fingerprints for passwords;
- provide seamless multi-user support, which would benefit home users, as well as corporations and governments, that share one device (e.g., iPad, future Macbooks) among multiple users.