Are the major tech firms about to drive the relatively miniscule identity/biometric firms out of business?
Don’t be evil: stay away from surveillance
I’ve previously discussed the “big three” in biometrics: currently IDEMIA, NEC, and Thales (although IDEMIA may be replaced by Amadeus at some point). These companies are seemingly big, with billions of dollars in revenue…but they are dwarfed by the “really big bunch” of Google, Meta, and whoever else you throw in the category.
The Really Big Bunch could smash the Big Three in a heartbeat, if they wanted to.
Why haven’t they?
Because they have very active consumer sales that don’t affect IDEMIA and the like, and are terrified that any entry into biometric “surveillance” will adversely affect their lucrative consumer business. So they all concentrated on “don’t be evil.”
This is why Amazon withdrew Amazon Rekognition, Meta and others are cautious about adding facial recognition to consumer products, and Apple loudly proclaims its commitment to privacy.
But is this changing?
First, the mobile driver’s licenses
IDEMIA and Thales offer physical driver’s licenses, and moving into mobile driver’s licenses is a natural. I observed this during my time at IDEMIA, as (then) Gemalto pursued numerous mDL opportunities and IDEMIA responded in turn.
As part of my efforts to educate myself in the driver’s license market dominated by our new corporate overlords MorphoTrust, I attended an AAMVA regional conference several years ago. IDEMIA was obviously there, as was Gemalto. But also attending the conference was Apple. Why? I asked.
Apple wasn’t visible over the next few years as IDEMIA and Thales expanded their mobile driver’s license implementations. But all of a sudden, Apple was visible, as was Google, as was Samsung.
Why? Because these smartphone providers all had their own wallets, and they were adding mDLs to their offerings.
Which meant that someone who wanted a mobile driver’s license could use the convenient smartphone wallet they already had.
Were Apple and Google entering the surveillance state? Of course not, because Apple and Google were really nice people who were providing these wallets for our convenience and benefit. Never mind the facial recognition underpinning their use. There was nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing.
Until they targeted the airports.
Second, TSA PreCheck
As a former IDEMIA employee, TSA PreCheck was near and dear to my heart. Well, until IDEMIA’s revenue tanked in 2020 when nobody flew or got driver’s licenses…and I lost my job.
But absent a worldwide pandemic, TSA PreCheck had been very very good to IDEMIA, since only IDEMIA offered it. Sure CLEAR had its program, but TSA PreCheck was much cheaper.
Until CLEAR also offered TSA PreCheck.
And Telos did also.
But who cares what these companies are doing? It’s not like a big company like Google is offering TSA PreCheck.
Fast forward to 2026.
“The Transportation Security Administration today announced a new partnership with Google Wallet, introducing a more seamless way for eligible travellers to opt in to TSA PreCheck® Touchless ID. Google Wallet is the first digital wallet to offer this innovative feature, making secure, efficient travel easier than ever.”
Yup, Google and the Department of Homeland Security are now best buddies. To some civil libertarians, this is evil indeed.
What’s next?
So how long until the really big bunch prime contracts for systems such as NGI and HART? They have a responsibility to their shareholders, after all.
