This Frost & Sullivan research service titled World Smart Cards markets - Investment Analysis provides Financial Benchmarking Analysis of world smart cards market including technical analysis of Frost & Sullivan’s Smart Card market stock and valuation multiples for smart card companies, growth monitor that ranks companies based on prospective revenue growth, industry growth outlook that discusses market estimates. In this research, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the smart cards market based on the following verticals - telecommunication, banking and finance, transportation and government ID and security.
This analysis is available through our Financial Benchmarking in the Smart Cards Industry program. With this program, clients receive industry-leading market research such as this, along with technical and econometric data and many interactive features including Analyst Inquiry Time and Client Council.
Market Sectors
Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following market sectors in this research:
Telecommunications
Banking and Finance
Government ID and Security
Transportation
Market Overview
Mounting Security Concerns Driving Market Growth
Smart cards as a means to data and physical protection are gaining increasing acceptance, particularly in the wake of the growing security threats confronting organizations today. There is now a better understanding of the capabilities and availability of access security devices in the market and with a clearer perspective of what smart card technology can offer, it is becoming easier to justify the need for such an implementation. Furthermore, the growing acceptance of contactless payment in the North American market is also promoting the uptake of smart cards. Presently, there are over 20,000 merchant locations in the region that support the payment technology.
Government ID and security is a key application area for smart cards and this segment of the market could experience growth rates to the tune of 36 percent between 2006 and 2011. Likewise, the global smart card-based telecom market is also in its growth stages with major participants consolidating and making use of the technology and cost benefits to serve the consumer better. "Interestingly, industry experts opine that the telecom end-user segment will be the fastest growing, given the increasing demand for mobile phones and the improved technologies being offered in the market," notes the analyst of this research service. "Among the various geographies, the European smart card-based telecom market held the largest share in 2006."
e-Passport Segment Spurring Adoption
The key applications of smart card and contactless smart cards in the public sector are e-Passport, national smart identity cards, national health cards, national driving licenses and government identity cards. Of these, the most rapidly growing sector is the e-Passport sector, which will benefit from the international interoperable standards, based on contactless chips and including biometrics, developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for the next-generation of machine-readable travel documents. The next largest sector is the national smart identity card sector, followed by the national smart health cards sector. Passports are beginning to influence the development of national smart identity cards and this should make it easier to launch this national identity documents in the future.
Notwithstanding these growth factors, plunging smart card prices remain a significant challenge for market participants. The merger of the two major industry participants, Gemplus and Axalto, has been a key factor in price reductions, which has been felt the most by the banks and financial institutions where the price drop has been to the extent of 10.0 percent over the years. "This apart, integration issues between the legacy and the new age systems are being further compounded by the lack of availability of supporting infrastructure," says the analyst. "The impact of this challenge is particularly strong in the European market."
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