Another day, another rosy prediction for the smart technologies and mobile resources of the future.
Ahead of the weekend, ABI Research forecast that a combination of memory and microcontroller smart cards alongside disposable ticketing solutions will reach shipments totaling 1.7 billion units in 2018.
The primary drivers include the increasing move to national standards and the enablement of NFC and open-loop payments.
Not surprisingly, this trend is a consistent feature across all continents with particular progress within the UK, U.S., Australia, Germany, Turkey, and the BRIC countries forming a growth engine for future contactless ticketing adoption.
But when it comes to emerging markets, that’s where the true potential is apparent.
Growth is particularly strong in China, India, and Brazil where accelerating contactless ticketing programs within flagship cities can be found. In 2013 these three countries accounted for 21% of all smart contactless ticketing cards shipped worldwide. As these projects evolve ABI Research expects to see further expansion across other cities and the enablement of open-loop and NFC acceptance.
“I expect to see a more competitive market from both a protocol and solution acceptance perspective,” ABI research analyst Phil Sealy expains. “Several countries are working to create multi-protocol acceptance solutions with transport authorities able to incorporate different types of payments and ticket-types within a single system. New and upgraded systems being introduced in countries such as the U.S. and China, where we are tracking the adoption of contactless bank cards, NFC, and mobile ticketing, will be particularly interesting.Combined, these new technologies could disrupt the current ecosystem, increasing competition and introducing new players to threaten the current status quo.”
