VDC Research: RFID, Barcode, Retail Automation & Self-Service Market Blog

My Experience at the AIM and PACK Expos

I spent two days at the AIM and PACK Expos in Las Vegas this past week.  Although light on enterprise end user foot traffic on the show floor, the AIM Expo was chock full of great sessions and presentations and turned out to be a decent peer networking event.  Most exhibitors I spoke with were expecting more of a carryover from the mammoth PACK Expo; however, the general consensus was that the sessions on various AIDC and Mobility technologies and applications made up for the shortcoming.  Personally, the slower-than-expected traffic worked in my favor as I was able to spend more time talking to the highly knowledgeable individuals manning their booths.  Special thanks to Citizens, Seiko, Datamax-O’neil, Datalogic, Intermec, Seagull Scientific, MetalCraft, DAP Technologies, Feig, Infineon, Source Tech, Flexcon and Bluestar.

The Pack Expo was huge!  Word on the street was that there were more than 30,000 attendees walking a show floor that seemed to never end.  There were impressive displays of automation, robotics, packaging and labeling, but surprisingly, there was little about AIDC solutions.  Sure, barcodes were being printed and applied at many booths, but with the exception of a few vendors, I did not get to see every booth.  Vendors such as Intermec, ITW and Videojet, track/trace solutions were severely underrepresented.  Now I know that this is a packaging and automation show, but I really expected to see more AIDC solutions represented, especially since it is a critical part of the packaging solution for most vendors (and since nearly every box being prepared or packed had a barcode on it!)

The lack of AIDC solutions at the Pack Expo was most likely the reason for the limited traffic flow to the AIM conference.  Regardless, I enjoyed both shows and very much appreciated the time and attention the vendors afforded me.  Even though I’m immersed in the AIDC market on a daily basis, I gained an enormous amount of knowledge, particularly from the AIM sessions. 

A few highlights include:

• Bluestar’s ‘In a Box’ solutions.  What a novel concept - packaging a complete, application specific solution together … in a box.  Easy to set up via basic directions and a comprehensive configuration by Bluestar leveraging their diverse portfolio of products, software and services.   Talk about an out-of-box experience.  Check it out on their website http://us.bluestarinc.com/in_a_box
• Source Tech’s new thermal printers.  Very user friendly and offering additional functionality (i.e.: USB and open software platform) while still meeting customer preferences and remaining highly price competitive.  Check them out on their website http://www.sourcetech.com/

NFC World Congress, Day 2...

Today was the second (and last) day of the NFC World Congress here in lovely Nice, France. There was a noticeable increase in activity and attendees relative to day 1, as today all the booths were filled and the show floor bustling with NFC solutions providers from all parts of the world.

While the NFC World Congress is certainly not lacking in representation from suppliers offering NFC solutions for internal enterprise use, much of the buzz at this year’s show is surrounding customer-facing solutions that leverage consumers’ mobile devices, especially smartphones. Many exhibitors expressed expectations that the recent wave of NFC-capable smartphone announcements will drive consumer-level adoption of the technology and result in a corresponding bump in enterprise demand for customer-facing NFC solutions.

Some of the interesting customer-facing solutions we observed included the following:

• Duali was demonstrating its multi-function smart NFC device, which is essentially a tablet form factor that can support a range of applications. The company was featuring its unique perspective on an old loyalty concept—the punch card (e.g., buy 10, get the 11th free). By replacing the punch card with a customer’s NFC smartphone and integrating the NFC smart device with the POS solution, enterprises gain enhanced control and business intelligence from such rewards programs.
  
  
• Connectthings displayed its smart poster solution targeted at mass transit providers. By tapping a NFC-enabled device on the poster, a transit rider is able to acquire an up-to-date bus/rail schedule tailored to the date and time the information is accessed. Through localization, the smart posters support targeted, geographically relevant advertising for nearby businesses as well.
  
  
• AIRTAG featured its recently released NFC-based loyalty and promotional solution. The solution is comprised of an Android/iOS app and reader (approximately the size of a payment terminal) that is integrated with the POS, and enables traditional loyalty functionality, as well as targeted offers based on past purchase history. For those shoppers who do not yet have NFC but want mobile loyalty, the solution also supports 2D barcodes.

That's all from Nice…it’s been an exciting and informative visit.

Bonjour! NFC World Congress Day 1

Greetings from the NFC World Congress in Nice, France! Today was the first day of the show, with numerous NFC hardware suppliers and application developers showing off their latest offerings.  We will be blogging throughout our visit here, keeping you abreast of some of the most interesting and exciting announcements at this year’s show.

Some of the highlights from walking the show floor today include:

• AQ Corporation’s multipurpose NFC reader can be configured to support a variety of applications, including mobile device control. By tapping a NFC enabled device to this reader, certain features of the mobile device are disabled. AQ reports this solution is well-received among multinational technology firms looking to prevent new products in development/production from being leaked via smartphone photos taken by employees and other unauthorized sources. Once disabled by this reader, features can only be reactivated by swiping the device again. This is an interesting solution that could gain traction in other applications where security is critical.
  
  
• A number of NFC testing and certification providers were exhibiting their hardware and services. More than one of these organizations reported that Apple purchased their testing hardware. Could this be a sign that the iPhone 5 might arrive with NFC capability? Only time will tell, but this seems to be an indicator that this highly anticipated update could include NFC…
  
  
• NXP had an engaging booth featuring a number of NFC-enabled smart posters designed to educate people about the diversity of applications NFC can serve, including security & access control, information retrieval, loyalty, gaming and social networking. Although the company provides no application development, it is seeking to drive NFC adoption by informing enterprises of the technology’s versatility.

We have another full day at the show tomorrow, so stay tuned for more updates. Au revoir!

NFC Technology Gaining Traction with Consumer Device Manufacturers

NFC is being integrated into an increasing number of consumer electronic devices, including smartphones, tablets and laptops.  For example, over the past few weeks, Samsung, RIM, Nokia, HTC, LG and Fujitsu all introduced new smartphone models with NFC functionality.  The increased integration of the technology into consumer devices places NFC directly in front of the end user, which in turn will stimulate demand for the solution as users become aware of its capabilities.  This ‘pull’ demand will result in more enterprise-level investment in NFC infrastructure and application development.

A similar scenario recently occurred with barcodes.  Increased sales of smartphones and the resultant application development boom led to consumer demand for mobile barcodes (barcodes digitally displayed on a mobile device).  The installed base of scanners was not able to read the barcodes on a screen.   Scanner suppliers reacted by rapidly introducing devices capable of supporting mobile barcode applications.  More infrastructure has stimulated demand for more application development, which will then create more demand for devices and infrastructure – and this cycle continues.

Despite a limited number of NFC applications – and enterprises capable of supporting them, the consumers (and supporting enterprises) of these smartphones can use their devices for payment, couponing, loyalty, marketing, access control, data transfer and ticketing.  Examples of these include:

• ATM (operator of the Milan public transit system), in partnership with Telecom Italia and Samsung, recently introduced a NFC ticketing pilot on its network of buses, trams, and subways

• In St. Petersburg, Russia, the Metro transit network has been piloting NFC ticketing in conjunction with NFC provider Ambiq and the Russian telecom company VimpelCom

• Optical Discount, a French eyewear retailer, introduced a NFC based loyalty card program in partnership with Adelya

• The Royal Dutch Hockey Federation, in partnership with Multicard (a division of Identive Group), NXP and Rabobank, introduced mobile payments to attendees during a June tournament

The chicken and the egg question for this market appears to have been answered…omelets anyone?

Imaging Solutions - Market Overview

Imaging vendors’ experienced strong growth in 2010 as end-users loosened their purse strings to re-invest in AutoID solutions – suppliers derived more than $417 million via sales of Linear and 2D Imagers, corresponding to a year-over-year growth of over 29%. End-user enterprises across vertical market segments (Retail and Transportation, in particular) have been allocating a greater percentage of their technology budgets toward investments in imaging solutions due to rapidly declining prices, proven ROI, improved performance and an increasing number of applications that extend barcode platforms such as signature capture, auto-forms population, age verification, mobile marketing, track-and-trace, etc. 

While increased adoption of PDF417 in logistics operations and GS1 DataBar at the grocery POS and health care, will continue to spur demand for linear imagers in the near-term, customers will increasingly turn to 2D imagers for their image capture capability and native support for more barcode symbologies. Not only is the price of these 2D devices becoming more competitive (and less cost-prohibitive), they also offer benefits such as omni-directional scanning, no moving parts (less fragile), enhanced ability to read damaged barcodes, 1D & 2D decoding and image capture.  Price is not as big a factor for businesses if they are able to future-proof and extend existing platforms.

Imager vendors are benefiting greatly from growing interest in & proliferation of 2D barcodes and are increasingly collaborating with software developers to build applications that cater to specific requirements of deploying organizations across a variety of vertical markets. VDC expects continued investment in this technology solution – the global market for Linear and 2D Imagers is slated to grow to $679.1 million by 2015 – while value-added support services help vendors differentiate their offerings in an otherwise highly commoditized marketplace.