RFID Cards Lead Market

Filed in archive Market Size on May 23, 2005

Quick! What's the biggest market for RFID in 2005?

RFID for supply chain applications, such as to meet Wal-Mart and DOD mandates?

Not even close. The Smart Labels Analyst reports that RFID cards are the number one market worldwide, for use in ticketing and access-control, and also in contactless payment cards:

"Reading the press, one could be forgiven for thinking that RFID is all about UHF tags for pallets and cases but they will struggle even to achieve fifth place in importance by gross sales value in 2005. This year, RFID is massively dominated by contactless i.e. RFID smart cards and payment key fobs. The substantial ongoing sale of these for bus and train ticketing and secure access has been boosted by a large replacement program for train cards in Korea and the demand for the national ID cards in Italy and China.

However, even more importantly, after thirty years, Visa and MasterCard are coming to the view that RFID cards are both secure and better for customers. They have noticed the huge success of contactless payment media such as the Exxon Mobil Speedpass and their own trials - and, in the case of Visa, rollouts in Spain and Japan - have confirmed it. There are about 4.5 billion financial cards in use in the world today so converting only 10% to contactless versions can double the RFID card business in numbers. RFID smart cards sell for $1.25 to $8 vs 20 cents for today's EPC tags.

The second largest RFID market in 2005 by value will probably animal tagging, notably of livestock such as sheep, cows, goats and pigs. Part of the reason is that such tags may average $2 each but new laws triggered by food scares have created a large new demand."