Acer is partnering with fingerprint sensor provider Egis Technology Inc. to develop a cloud-based payment system that will allow users to make purchases on Acer mobile phones or wearable devices. Maverick Shih, president of Acer's Build Your Own Cloud (BYOC) and tablet business group, told the press that his company's partnership with Egis Technology Inc. will signal Acer's entry into the payment business.

The fingerprint recognition technology will be available either on Acer's smartphones or its wearable devices, via the company's open cloud platform

Taiwan-based Egis is a provider of fingerprint biometrics and data encryption.

The development of a cloud-based payment system would positios Acer against Apple, which will soon launch the Apple Pay platform. Apple pay combines a fingerprint scanner with the Passbook iOS app to allow for online payments on iPhones.