In 2007, shipments of smart cards will see an increase of 20% globally exceeding 3.1 Billion units, and this growth will be reflected on all the three leading market segments.
Tthe rough estimation made by Eurosmart, a vendor trade group, on April 19, 2007 shows that this increase is almost 40% less than the growth rate of 2006, mainly because the largest segment in the market, SIM card shipments, will go up by not more than 18% reaching 2.4 Billion units this year, according to the association. In 2006, as per this report, the SIM shipments went up by 45%.
The chairperson of Eurosmart and the president of the European region for France-based smart card vendor Gemalto, Jacques Seneca said in news published by Cardtechnology., "Growth of volume is coming from Asia and Latin America, India is growing strongly, and China is growing again."
A growth of 45% would see the Indian smart card industry reaching $6 Billion by 2010 and according to experts in the IT industry, the smart card population of India is expected to go up by eight fold.
As per an industry expert, the cost of smart cards would be around $2 to $4 per person but for a business establishment enabling the use of smart card could cost it around $1,000. This forecast holds true only for the Indian market.
China's share in the smart card world market will see exceed 22% in 2008 from 15% of 2002. Additionally, most of the smart cards sold in the country would be used for applications excluding fixed-line payphone cards, or mobile phone SIM/UIM.
According to a research analyst at RNCOS, due to the rapid and innovative technological advancements, there has been a steady rise in the smart card industry. The other reason for the radical growth of smart card industry is that Latin American and Asian companies are using it in several applications like enterprise security, transportation and banking.
Related Market Research Reports:
Global Smart Card Market Outlook
Global Biometric Forecast to 2012
Global Electronic Surveillance Market Outlook
