Abstract
Contactless smart cards are the largest RFID sector by far and the business is
booming. From the $6 billion China national ID card scheme to the large sales
of transport cards and tickets, transport-based purse cards replacing cash and
secure access cards, this is a sector with many profitable suppliers, issuers
and outlets.
This major new report, globally researched in 2006, compares and contrasts
contactless smart cards and tickets with NFC and other methods of using the
mobile phone to replace the card or ticket. It has 80 figures and tables and
four appendices of further information. It forecasts progress for the next ten
years with contactless smart cards, tickets and RFID enabled phones, from
technology to applications, numbers and values. It is put in the context of
smart cards prepaid cards and mobile phones as a whole. The surprising
conclusion is that there will be rapid growth in sales of all three
alternatives for at least ten years. We present a detailed analysis from the
mix of microprocessor vs memory cards by application, to regional differences
and the performance of the major schemes and suppliers, user reactions and
business opportunities.
Then we have the new market for contactless, bank-issued credit, debit and
account cards in contactless form. Consumers prefer the fast transactions and
reliability that come with contactless approaches but that means payment and
access by mobile phone these days, not just contactless cards. These are
alternatives, with pros and cons on either side. Sales of the cards and their
closely related systems will reach $4 billion in ten years and the majority of
phones will be RFID enabled within ten years. Globally acknowledged experts
pull together why, where and what next. Will the phone be enabled by a secure
chip, the SIM card or the flash card? Will there be interoperability? Will
Near Field Communication NFC catch up with the Japanese proprietary interface
then conquer all?
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