Integration of Technologies Opens up Tremendous Opportunities for Smart Cards in...

Wed May 21, 2008 10:00pm EDT

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Integration of Technologies Opens up Tremendous Opportunities for Smart Cards in the Asia Pacific

DUBLIN, Ireland--(Business Wire)--
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c92425) has announced the
addition of "Strategic Assessment Of The Asia Pacific Smart Card
Markets" to their offering.

Technological advancement is the buzzword in the Asia Pacific
smart card industry, with product quality and innovation displacing
pricing as the primary business factor. Market participants are making
significant headway toward product advancement, as is testified by
smart cards' increasing convergence of applications and integration
with diverse technologies. Smart card companies are looking to
establish an early mover advantage in countries with untapped
potential. Since most of these countries do not have legacy systems,
it will be easy for the market to straightaway implement contactless
as well as next-generation converged applications. Indeed, tier 1 and
2 countries have already started converging payment and transit
applications. The next step would be to integrate the same onto mobile
phones.

This rapid pace of development, however, has thrown up issues of
standardization and interoperability in the Asian market. As many
system integrators provide their own proprietary software, end users
often depend on a single system integrator. This could result in
delays in project execution. "To address these issues of
standardization and interoperability, smart card vendors are focusing
on inter and intra project cooperation as well as migration toward the
global platform for interoperability," says the analyst of this
research. "This move will also enhance awareness of smart cards." Once
end users are comfortable with the technology, new applications can be
added to improve revenue generation.

Success of Converged Technologies Spawns More Near Field
Communication Projects

The widespread usage of contactless cards and mobile phones for
contactless transactions will gradually become evident in 2008. The
success of converged applications in several Asian countries is
tempting industry participants to replicate this success in other
countries in the region. Near field communication (NFC) has moved out
of boardrooms to field projects in Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan. In
fact, there are already some cost-effective alternatives to the NFC
phone. Some options include a contactless subscriber identity module
(SIM) and a radio frequency (RF)-based SIM.

Another converged application that has caught the fancy of end
users, particularly in Japan, is the 'mobile wallet'. This product, in
which transit and payment applications converge, has proved to be so
popular that the top three mobile operators have issued more than 100
types of mobile wallet phones. Yet another instance of converged
technology implementation is the deployment of biometric readers in
automated teller machines (ATMs) in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.
"These ATMs were installed with biometric readers that employed smart
cards integrated with biometrics," notes the analyst. "This provided
stronger authentication, and the same was applied for corporate as
well as residential access control."

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled Strategic Assessment
of the Asia Pacific Smart Card Markets Outlook provides an overview of
smart card trends and technological developments across all
applications.

This analysis is available through our Smart Cards Growth
Partnership Services 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 Councils.

Frost & Sullivan Growth Partnership Service

Based on extensive and in-depth research, real-world consulting
work, and growth strategies tested in hundreds of companies across
many industries, Frost & Sullivan has evolved its Growth Partnership
Services (GPS) program to accelerate growth for both established and
emerging firms. GPS provides our growth partners with actionable
research and best practices to guide day-to-day behavior, minimize
risk, uncover new opportunities, and drive growth.

The foundation of Frost & Sullivan's GPS includes:

Proprietary T.E.A.M. Methodology integrating all 6 critical
research perspectives

32 global offices ensuring both global and regional expertise and
perspective

Research and consulting teams identifying new opportunities and
developing growth strategies

Broad spectrum of industry and technology coverage uncovering
innovative ideas and opportunities inside and outside the market

Smart Cards in 2007

-- Market Overview

-- Introduction

-- New Developments in 2007

Smart Cards in 2008

-- Smart Cards Market for 2008

-- Introduction