RFID Gazette: RFID: Predicted Areas of Growth

September 11, 2006

RFID: Predicted Areas of Growth

Item-level RFID for retail applications is expected [RFID News] to have a good year in 2007 says AbsoluteSKY, Inc., of Montreal, Canada. The company is already working on applications with "four major retailers", with announcements pending. AbsoluteSKY announced a deal with Universal Surveillance Systems earlier this year for "retail RFID products" that would help retailers track product in real-time. Real-time location systems (RTLS) seem to be increasingly of interest to retailers and other businesses.

Another RFID application area expected to enjoy growth [IDTechEx] is in the use of smart cards and key fobs for payment systems. Key fobs are already in use in many countries. Some North American gas stations have been using contactless key fobs for "quick payment" lanes for years now. Smart cards are not only being used for payment systems but also for government ID, health cards, and driver's licenses in a number of countries, including Australia. China alone is expected to issue nearly a billion smart cards to adults over the next two years. Additionally, banks like Chase in the US have been distributing RFID-enabled credit cards with increasing frequency. In fact, a recent Ipsos Insight survey indicates contactless credit cards would be used by over 100 million Americans.

In terms of hardware, the RFID reader market is expected to be worth [RFID Update] over US$1 B by 2010, according to a VDC (Venture Development Corporation) report (PDF, 2 pages) issued last week. More than 80% of the market is for fixed-position readers, with the rest going to handheld units and modules integrated with other hardware such as label printers. This considerable difference between fixed and portable RFID readers is expected to continue, as readers will be embedded in also sorts of stationary equipment, desktops, cabinets, etc., in numerous near-future applications. The gap will decrease slightly, however.

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September 11, 2006 in Applications, Identification, Payment, Retailers | Permalink