Amazon launches device that lets you pay with your palm

In the middle of the pandemic, Amazon has unveiled a new way for customers to pay with ease at its stores. Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley joins Kristin Myers to discuss.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: We are now talking Amazon. Shares of that stock are slipping. That stock is down about half a percentage point right now. The online retailer is piloting a new payment method that will be right in the palm of your hands. That is not a pun, that is a literal thing. So for more on this, we're joined now by Yahoo Finance's techspert, Dan Howley. Hey, Dan. Dan, I believe you're muted.

DAN HOWLEY: Hey, sorry about that. First time I've ever done that. This is kind of weird. It's basically a new Amazon feature called Amazon One. And essentially what it's going to do is, use your palm print. Not really the print. A scan of your palm, to allow you to do things like pay for items at Amazon's Amazon stores, those quick shops they have set up where you could usually just swipe your phone. You're in, you're out. Now they're going to allow you to do that with the palm of your hand.

It's also going to work eventually with things like stadiums and offices as a means for security. So here's how you would set it up. You would go into one of these kiosks or go up to one of these kiosks, slide your credit card in or whatever ID card you would be using for the particular facility, and then push your hand down on it just to kind of give you the scan. And then that would lock your ID and your hand print together. So then anytime you want to go into the same facility again, you would then be recognized. And Amazon says it's not going to be selling this data. It's going to store it securely online in the cloud. It won't be on one device.

So it really is kind of an interesting way for people to be able to purchase items and check in. But there's also that kind of creep factor that's kind of in there, the big brothery-ish notion that Amazon has not only your payment information, your address and your purchasing habits, but also now some biometric data on you. And that's kind of the thing that might set some people apart. It's worth noting that while we do have biometric data on things like our smartphones, those are stored on our smartphones and not uploaded to the cloud. And I think the idea that Amazon would have this stored in the cloud might turn some people off.

KRISTIN MYERS: I mean, creepy is a word for it, Dan. But this is not the only initiative coming out of Amazon. Tell us about their new personal shopping service. I know they're going to be rivaling Stitch Fix now with their new program.

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah. So what they're going to be doing, is expanding their personal shopping experience to men. They already offer it for women, and this is going to be something that you can get for $5 a month. And essentially, you'll be able to have personal shoppers provide you with certain looks that you may be interested in, certain cuts, certain styles.

And you'll be able to basically order those clothes if you really like them. You can also ask them to dress you up for a certain occasion. So if it's a wedding that you have to attend and you want to make sure that you look your best and usually you dress schluby, this is a way to not dress schluby. So $5 a month, another item from Amazon, not as creepy.