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Literally the first smart phone I owned had that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Atrix_4G

It was sort of gimmicky (as were a lot of the features of the Atrix) but it existed on Android first.

Of course it never worked once I switched to cyanogen mod and I never used it even when it did work.

The Atrix had a fingerprint sensor, but it didn't really do anything other than unlock the phone. The sensor on iOS allowed for far deeper integration into the system. That was innovative.

It seems obvious to me. Perhaps it's hindsight, but Apple's full-stack control of hardware and software make it obvious.

It's non-obvious on Android/pre-Android because software developers won't care much about an API for a fraction of an OS's market. Which is why I'd venture to guess most Android apps still don't take advantage of fingerprint sensors.

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