Smart Contactless Credentials To Hit Record Number

A new report carried out by IMS Research entitled “Smart Contactless Credentials – World – 2012” shows that 6.9 billion smart contactless credentials are projected to be shipped by 2017.

According to the report, the four leading sectors for smart contactless credentials are payment and banking, government ID, transportation and physical access. “In 2012, they accounted for 93.4 percent of all high frequency smart contactless credential shipment,” stated Don Tait, senior analyst at IMS Research’s Financial and ID Technology Group and the report’s author.

A previous report stated that NFC predictions would be driven down in the payments and mobile sector due to Apple’s refusal to incorporate the technology in its smartphones. The author of Juniper’s report, Dr Windsor Holden, explains: “While many vendors have introduced NFC-enabled smartphones, Apple’s decision is a significant blow for the technology, particularly given its previous successes in educating the wider public about new mobile services. Without their support, it will be even more difficult to persuade consumers – and retailers – to embrace what amounts to a wholly new means of payment.”

But IMS Research is confident that the contactless market will continue to grow in the next few years. The report’s author defends, “The smart card form factor is projected to account for most smart contactless credential shipments in the next five years, with 4.9 billion units shipped in 2017 (71.0 percent of the total).” Shipments of Near Field Communication (NFC) credentials (mainly NFC-enabled handsets) are projected to increase significantly in the next five years. The increase in the number of NFC-enabled smartphones launched onto the market during 2012 has helped the market gain traction. Also, launch of other NFC-enabled devices such as tablets, portable computing devices, stickers and tags is also projected to boost market development over the next few years.

With Apple’s central role in setting trends in the mobile industry, we will have to wait and see whether or not the new iPhone will take NFC to the mainstream.