Tools for Humanity is updating the marketing of its Orb iris scanner. The 5-pound chrome centerpiece has been modified to be less intimidating.
In an interview with TechCrunch last week, Alex Branier, CEO of the cryptocurrency company, which does business as WorldCoin, reportedly said that the new Orbs are more like “Apple products.” That probably doesn't mean that the main new feature of each subsequent model will be alternating between large and small form factors.
Branier himself did not elaborate on the design or say when it would debut, but illustrations contributed by Tools and other articles posted on Worldcoin.org indicate a new direction.
Worldcoin only launched last summer, so the hardware redesign is unusual.
The current design resembles the moving globe floor lamps popular in the 1990s rather than sci-fi movie props. The new design looks more like a toy overall, even though it's certainly new.
Perhaps the sudden design change was aimed at attracting Americans.
In other regions (and primarily in developing countries), the company said 3 million people lined up for iris biometric scans to earn token allocations for WorldCoin's cryptocurrency, WLD. It also provides a certificate of humanity, a digital passport that helps us participate in the digital economy, but the appeal of cryptocurrencies has proven to be strong.
Executives are also working on other moves to get attention. In December, the company announced a development grant program aimed at enhancing WorldCoin's image and encouraging product development that integrates with the platform. A blog post was published last week explaining the process of identity verification on Worldcoin Orb, but biometrics is not explicitly mentioned.
Still, the regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies in the US has persuaded executives not to issue WLDs in the country. Perhaps all that is possible at this point is to upgrade the status to the process of iris scanning.
Article topics
Biometrics | Iris Biometrics | Research and Development | Tools for Humanity | User Experience | World Coin
