This article was originally published by RFID Update.
August 17, 2005—IDTechEx has released an article about the oft-overlooked but dynamic, high-growth active RFID market segment. The Cambridge, UK-based research firm predicts the market for active RFID systems and tags will grow from about $400 million this year to over $1.4 billion in 2015. The company considers the prediction conservative in that it excludes the market for active RFID-enabled cell phones and the possibility of aggressive initiatives like those of Korea’s Active Tagging Group, which has set a target of one billion active tags sold over the next five years.
The market for RFID-enabled cell phones will itself grow dramatically, from 50 million units sold this year to 600 million in 2015. The versatility of such phones ensures that their applications expand. According to the article, “A phone with RFID capability could be used to access a public transport system, price an EPC coded product, pay a roadway toll booth, purchase coffee, and many other transactions. As consumers become accustomed to using these systems we may see payments of value approaching credit card or checks.”
Other drivers of active RFID demand include applications in container, vehicle, and people tracking. These applications will supplant the historical leader, key fobs for wireless locking and unlocking of automobiles, whose growth has flattened. New standards, improved specifications, and the combination of RFID with other technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS are all conspiring to advance the technology and its applications across these sectors. “Radianse uses active RFID with Bluetooth to locate nurses in hospitals. Connexion2 uses GSM to record an incident if a social worker is threatened or attacked… Telegesis combines active RFID and ZigBee.”
Read the full article from IDTechEx