iPhone 5s officially unveiled

[sand_man]

Pretty much every OS has ecosystem type constraints with the exception of android. How free a platform is Symbian, blackberry or WM?

 

[BeVonk!]

Bruce Schneier on the iPhone 5S and fingerprint reader ... https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/09/iphone_fingerpr.html

 

[JimboBob]

Bruce Schneier on the iPhone 5S and fingerprint reader ... https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/09/iphone_fingerpr.html

I love the theories around the biometric sensor, the comments are brilliant "NSA", "avoid like the plague", "back door to you finger print" etc etc. You could make a pretty good movie about this!

 

[JimboBob]

Wow, see stories of Apple stock taking a hammering, lost something like 5% of it's value since the announcement?! $20 Billion!

 

[icyrus]

Wow, see stories of Apple stock taking a hammering, lost something like 5% of it's value since the announcement?! $20 Billion!

Buy on rumour, sell on news. Same old story with APPL.

 

[falcon786]

Wow, see stories of Apple stock taking a hammering, lost something like 5% of it's value since the announcement?! $20 Billion!

Maybe they should have launched a 5s and something like this picture below for those who want a bigger screen with the same features and cpu etc....the iphone 5 could have been kept as a WAY better budget "iphone".I'm sure the price of the "budget" iphone is what most people dont have faith in.

 

[undesign]

I've never even remotely claimed impartiality. I'm a subjective person with highly flawed opinions about everything. I exist in a realm of solipsism and self-contemplation that would rival the Buddha. Does that make you feel better?

Anyway it's true. Being first counts for nothing in the real world. IBM had the first OS. Microsoft had the first tablets. Nokia had the first smartphones. Do it right or quit whining when you can't sell.

*applause*

 

[cerebus]

Maybe they should have launched a 5s and something like this picture below for those who want a bigger screen with the same features and cpu etc....the iphone 5 could have been kept as a WAY better budget "iphone".I'm sure the price of the "budget" iphone is what most people dont have faith in.

Okay here's my take on the whole big iPhone thing. It's coming. I'm guessing next year's announcement will see them bring it out. It's not that simple of a thing with the way iOS handles resolution scaling, and they obviously wouldn't want something that was much lower specced in resolution than the competition (can you imagine if they put out an 1156x540 5" phone? It would be laughed at). But... next year this time they'll roll out the iPhone 6L

 

[[)roi(]]

If anyone has tried tying on the iPhone 5, it is a mission as the screen is too narrow. I kept pressing more than one button. But I will stick with my bigger screen thank you..

Not a problem for me.

Do you think all the ~10% of Android consumers (with big screen devices as reported by Google); also have banana fingers?

 

[[)roi(]]

You really think the thieves here are gonna ask you what type of phone you have first? Now they will just take your thumb along with the phone

Lol re thumb (thieves with a key ring of thumbs) -- account & thumb print fortunately separate.

The design change won't stop crimes initially, but should make it impossible for the resale of stolen phones (re inability to activate without prior owner's account & password) -- take away the incentive and it should ultimately curb targeted iDevice crime.

 

[cerebus]

Lol re thumb (thieves with a key ring of thumbs) -- account & thumb print fortunately separate.

The design change won't stop crimes initially, but should make it impossible for the resale of stolen phones (re inability to activate without prior owner's account & password) -- take away the incentive and it should ultimately curb targeted iDevice crime.

It's basically a bit more of an effective deterrent than a password. It isn't foolproof but nothing really is. Primarily it eliminates a point of inconvenience quite elegantly.

 

[[)roi(]]

How would the 32 and 64 bit thing effect apps? Two versions in the store? Compatibility mode?

Same way it works on OS X; completely seamless for the consumer -- only 1 app that is under the cover either 32 or 64 bit compiled, the iTunes app store will handle the correct download re device architecture as it does today with iPhone, iPad.

 

[[)roi(]]

It's basically a bit more of an effective deterrent than a password. It isn't foolproof but nothing really is. Primarily it eliminates a point of inconvenience quite elegantly.

The finger print recognition technology is no different in application to that which many Microsoft computing platform partners have offered for quite a while.

We need to see these as 2 different technologies that are linked for convenience:
1. The theft circumvention technology is part of "find my iPhone"
2. Touch ID is a simplification technology that links biometric identification account / password entry.

The important thing to note: is that if someone steals your iDevice, and wipes the phone by installing a fresh copy of the OS (via DFU):
1. The wipe will remove all your stored biometric data, including the link to your iTunes account.
2. If you activated "Find my iPhone"; the device will not be able to be activated by Apple Servers without your iTunes account & password -- rendering the device inoperable.

Of course this is all forfeit if you forget or choose not to activate "Find my iPhone".

So until iOS7 is jailbroken on the recent / new set of iDevices, there is a deterrent.

Even with that Apple will always quickly release counter measure updates, and the iOS community at large are known to update very frequently, so yes this can been seen an effective deterrent.

 

[Dolby]

Same way it works on OS X; completely seamless for the consumer -- only 1 app that is under the cover either 32 or 64 bit compiled, the iTunes app store will handle the correct download re device architecture as it does today with iPhone, iPad.

Thanks!

 

[cerebus]

The finger print recognition technology is no different in application to that which many Microsoft computing platform partners have offered for quite a while.

We need to see these as 2 different technologies that are linked for convenience:
1. The theft circumvention technology is part of "find my iPhone"
2. Touch ID is a simplification technology that links biometric identification account / password entry.

The important thing to note: is that if someone steals your iDevice, and wipes the phone by installing a fresh copy of the OS (via DFU):
1. The wipe will remove all your stored biometric data, including the link to your iTunes account.
2. If you activated "Find my iPhone"; the device will not be able to be activated by Apple Servers without your iTunes account & password -- rendering the device inoperable.

Of course this is all forfeit if you forget or choose not to activate "Find my iPhone".

So until iOS7 is jailbroken on the recent / new set of iDevices, there is a deterrent.

Even with that Apple will always quickly release counter measure updates, and the iOS community at large are known to update very frequently, so yes this can been seen an effective deterrent.

Great post. Funny it seems like a gimmick till you consider the implications in more detail.

 

[JimboBob]

The finger print recognition technology is no different in application to that which many Microsoft computing platform partners have offered for quite a while.

We need to see these as 2 different technologies that are linked for convenience:
1. The theft circumvention technology is part of "find my iPhone"
2. Touch ID is a simplification technology that links biometric identification account / password entry.

The important thing to note: is that if someone steals your iDevice, and wipes the phone by installing a fresh copy of the OS (via DFU):
1. The wipe will remove all your stored biometric data, including the link to your iTunes account.
2. If you activated "Find my iPhone"; the device will not be able to be activated by Apple Servers without your iTunes account & password -- rendering the device inoperable.

Of course this is all forfeit if you forget or choose not to activate "Find my iPhone".

So until iOS7 is jailbroken on the recent / new set of iDevices, there is a deterrent.

Even with that Apple will always quickly release counter measure updates, and the iOS community at large are known to update very frequently, so yes this can been seen an effective deterrent.

I think it's a little more scary now if your phone is stolen because they'll have your phone AND you biometric signature! Sure the phone will be secured and hopefully there's no way in but it's still a thought.

There's also a question around how 3rd party apps are going to handle the print, will they send it to the cloud? What about malicious apps...

Edit: just saw this:

One of the topline features of the iPhone 5s is its fingerprint scanning system Touch ID, but Apple is now clarifying some nuances about the way the device works in order to calm potential security fears before they can take hold. An Apple spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the iPhone 5s will not store actual images of a user's fingerprint, correcting an impression that the company itself may have inadvertently given. In a promotional video for the new phone, Apple's senior vice-president of hardware engineering Dan Riccio explains that, "The sensor uses advanced capacitive touch to take, in essence, a high-resolution image of your fingerprint." It then analyzes the sensor's data before "all fingerprint information is encrypted, and stored inside the secure enclave" on the phone's A7 processor. As the company clarified to the Journal, fingerprint "data" is stored — not an image of the fingerprint itself.

Storing the resulting digital signature, rather than a complete recreation of a user's fingerprint, is certainly less of a sticking point for those concerned by the implications of the new system. Of course, if someone has control of your iPhone without your knowledge they're likely going to be able to access all kinds of sensitive data — and fingerprint identification itself can be hacked in various ways. Thankfully for those that opt to use Touch ID, Apple's provided a few fallbacks: the Journal reports that the iPhone 5s will require a passcode to unlock the phone after a reboot or if it hasn't been unlocked in the last 48 hours.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/11/4...rage-details-to-calm-potential-security-fears

 

[[)roi(]]

I think it's a little more scary now if your phone is stolen because they'll have your phone AND you biometric signature! Sure the phone will be secured and hopefully there's no way in but it's still a thought.

I really don't understand all the panic around this new sensor?

This is really no problem IMO if you consider:
1. There's no easy way to gain entry to the device without a password / passkey / finger print scan (assuming you have set one)
2. You have the ability to activate "Find my iPhone" -- which allows you remotely to add/change the password, lock the device and even wipe the data (biometrics included)
3. Biometrics are heavily encrypted in the A7 -- so it won't be an easy task for any one and that includes potential jail-breakers.

Anyway why bother with all that effort when it's so much simpler to use some powder and sticky tape to grab one from your finger print riddled screen.

There's also a question around how 3rd party apps are going to handle the print, will they send it to the cloud? What about malicious apps...

Edit: just saw this:

Apple has not released any SDKs for this --- just like SIRI, there won't be any 3rd party apps for the foreseeable future. Yet one thing you can be sure of is that Apple (like any other large corporate) wouldn't want to be tackled in the press for providing a mechanism to compromise your personal details.

So relax it's just there for the convenience -- if you don't like it you can always switch it off, just like any of the other sensors.

 

[cerebus]

Anyway why bother with all that effort when it's so much simpler to use some powder and sticky tape to grab one from your finger print riddled screen.

I think the tech they're using won't make this possible. I'm not so clear on how it works but it needs some level of subdermal image. It's not just mapping the top level of the fingerprint.

 

[ebendl]

I think the tech they're using won't make this possible. I'm not so clear on how it works but it needs some level of subdermal image. It's not just mapping the top level of the fingerprint.

The advantage of them being Apple and this being such a high profile feature is that every professional and user reviewer out there will try to cheat it to death - so if you hang on you'll know well in advance whether it can be fooled or not.

 

[BeVonk!]

"As the company clarified to the Journal, fingerprint "data" is stored — not an image of the fingerprint itself.""

Huh? All pictures are stored as "data". In this case the data is encrypted. Still doesn't mean someone cannot decrypt that data to create the picture.