IMGCAP(1)]
Vendors will ship 4.66 billion microprocessor smart cards in 2009, up 12.4% from 4.145 billion cards expected to ship this year, according to vendor trade group Eurosmart. The group released its projection Tuesday at the Cartes and Identification show in Paris. SIM cards used in mobile phones make up the majority of the totals, with some 3.6 billion projected to ship in 2009, up 12.5% from 3.2 billion expected to ship this year, according to figures presented by Jacques Seneca, Eurosmart's chairman. Shipments of banking and retail smart cards will increase 14.8% in 2009, the group estimates, to 700 million from 610 million. Shipments of cards used for transit will remain flat, at about 30 million. The figures do not include relatively simple memory-only cards and tokens. Shipments of cards that consumers for health care or government services and identification will increase 14.3%, to 160 million from 140 million. Shipments of cards used for pay TV will remain flat, while shipments of other types of microprocessor smart cards, including corporate IDs, will increase 7.7% from 2008 shipments, Eurosmart projects. Shipments of contactless payment cards will reach 80 million in 2008, up from 60 million in 2007, an increase of 33.3%, the group says. The countries that are embracing contactless cards the most include the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Taiwan, Eurosmart says.
