Amazon says it's closing down its palm-scanning system after not enough people used it
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- Amazon said it is discontinuing Amazon One.
- The technology enables users to use their palms for actions such as payments and venue check-ins.
- This comes after the company said it will close all its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores.
Amazon will be discontinuing Amazon One, its palm-authentication service, across all retail businesses.
Users will be able to continue to use Amazon One at supported retail locations until June 3, the company announced on Wednesday. Some locations may phase the services out before this date.
The services will remain available to patients for check-in at healthcare locations until further notice.
Amazon One enables users to use their palms for actions such as paying at a store, presenting loyalty cards, and entering sports venues.
"In response to limited customer adoption, we're discontinuing Amazon One, our authentication service for facility access and payment," said an Amazon spokesperson.
"All customer data associated with Amazon One will be securely deleted after the service ends," they added.
The service was first tested in 2020 at two Amazon Go stores in Seattle. The technology was later rolled out to other locations, including all of its Whole Foods stores.
The news of its discontinuation comes as Amazon announces it is closing all of its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores, where the technology was used.
The tech and retail giant said on Tuesday it plans to close its Amazon Fresh stores "to prioritize investment in growth areas." It is also closing about 15 Amazon Go convenience stores.
Separately, on Wednesday, Amazon said it is laying off about 16,000 corporate roles as part of a broader move to cut bureaucracy.
"As I shared in October, we've been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy," Amazon's senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, wrote in a memo that was shared on Amazon's blog.
"While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now," she added.
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