Well, the technology is here, the behavioral patterns in the way people use services are here, and with companies like foursquare[0], who are basically doing the same thing (minus the facial recog, which the tech is present for, but the challenge now is connecting disparate data sets available which can be leveraged at scale for general purposes [which I'm working on], and not being shackled to things large companies typically are [we don't have user accounts, so we don't have "users" to appease, and we don't have $X billion in revenue so we have to take chances/experiment in order to grow]), this will be a growing market where consumers will be exposed to such technology and its benefits (and drawbacks because not everything is rose colored through my lenses).
My startup is working in the periphery of this area now, so I can't say that I don't have financial/technical interest involved with this. From the issues that we get notified now about our current product is basically people are afraid because they don't have "control" over "their" data and don't understand how others are able to technically leverage it (or anything technical about how the internet works, besides the profitable skinner boxes that make up most consumer tech companies). People make baseless legal threats all the time against us, but it is always interesting how it is always complaints about them as the individual and not about for others; those same people are happy to observe/give up information about other people.
>And unlikely, that customers efficiently go through their purchases in the least possible time is not really in most store's interest.
Valid point for some stores, but I was thinking about this from the perspective of the store rep trying to establish some kind of human touch to the shopping experience more so than they do now, while leveraging the data they have so they can more efficiently decide who they should focus their efforts on rather than the stereotypes made from their experiences. I guess what I'm saying is that it may not be as clear cut as what some make it out to be, and in that ambiguity lies the opportunity.