A couple of years back, smart rings looked like they might be the coming thing. We checked out the Neyya ring from India, London-based Kerv, and there were even rumors of an elusive Apple iRing. And while none of them—with the possible exception of the iRing—seems to have had an appointment with Mount Doom, consumer response was and remains underwhelming.
Into this less-than-robust market, Tokenize recently introduced the Token ring, which claims to rule pretty much everything: credit cards, door locks (available separately), car locks and ignition, office access (some of them), and transit access (50 systems so far). Token activates by a fingerprint scan when you put it on. When it comes off, it locks your credentials, saving them on an EAL5+ certified secured element. If you lose the Token or it is stolen, no one (OK, maybe a master hacker) will have instant access to you accounts, as they might with your credit and debit cards.
For a short time, you can preorder the sterling silver ring for $249; $50 more for 14K Rose Gold or Black Rhodium, and additional $100 each for a door lock and car lock. You’ll get a kit for determining your exact ring size before the preorders ship in December.
Tokenization has gotten pretty mainstream, although form factor, UI, and power issues have been stubborn problems. There’s clearly plenty of room for innovation here, so maybe we’ll see it by the end of the year.
(And we have to mention that old-time networking hands will get a chuckle out of the name Token Ring, which was the prevailing high-speed network standard until Ethernet was invented.)