The ring has long been the shape of wearable dreams. Logbar tried it as an all-in-one device that would be the gesture-controlling center of your digital world; Nimb used it as a subtle panic alert device; Ringly has mastered the sleek form-meets-function subtleties of a good wearable.
Now along comes Token, with a pre-sale launching today for its biometric-based wearable ring that can make payments, power up a computer and part doors — all with a wave of one magic finger.
The company’s first eponymous product is a chunky looking ring that’s integrated with MasterCard, Microsoft, Visa, HID, FitPay and the FIDO Alliance.
Token’s ring uses a combination of fingerprinting (there’s a fingerprint sensor at the base of the ring) and an optical proximity sensor to ensure that a user’s credentials can’t be accessed by a third party. Using an app (available for iOS and Android), Tokenites can pair the ring and their biometric information with anything from their credit cards to their car keys.
Every ring has a battery that should last for two weeks before recharging; an inductive charger is included with the purchase. The rings are also waterproof up to 50 meters. Credentials are stored on an EAL5+ secure element and all rings are compatible with Bluetooth and NFC.
“At MasterCard, the purpose of our Commerce for Every Device Program is to enable secure payments to a whole new generation of devices — giving consumers more choice in how they pay,” said Kiki Del Valle, Senior Vice President, Commerce for Every Device, MasterCard. “The Token device provides our card holders a personalized lifestyle accessory that can make simple and safe contactless transactions at millions of merchant locations in 96 countries around the globe.”
Jonathan was an editor at TechCrunch./p>