A new Freedonia Group study of the US smart label industry says standardization and improved manufacturing technologies will continue to drive down the costs of RFID tags. By 2014, RFID labels, which were around 10 per cent of total smart label demand in 2004, will account for more than 85 per cent of the market, while the share of EAS labels will drop sharply.
Many observers are predicting that the widespread deployment of RFID labels will lead to what is known as the "Internet of Things". This massively connected network or group of networks will
enable computers to automatically recognize and identify everyday objects, and then track, trace, monitor, trigger events, and perform actions on those objects. At its most ambitious, the Internet of Things will create communication and interoperability among virtually all products and individuals, says Freedonia.
As the nascent RFID market develops over the coming years, US demand for smart labels is projected to increase more than 11 per cent annually, to 8 billion units in 2009. With the advent of item level RFID tagging on higher priced items early in the next decade, demand will grow even more sharply to over 50 billion units in 2014.
While the fastest increases are expected for RFID labels, interactive packaging labels including thermochromatic and time-temperature indicator products will also show strong growth. In contrast, the dominant EAS segment will remain almost stagnant, with demand increases of only 2.2 per cent/year.
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