RFID is Poised for Change

Unfinished business

A newcomer will see there is still work to be done. Airports do not want to slow down the carousels and conveyors to accommodate RFID readers that demand well spaced singulation of bags. They want to speed things up. Nonetheless air baggage tagging is a great success (headed for two billion tags a year) as is apparel tagging in Marks and Spencer in the UK (soon 350 million items yearly). NF UHF needs to be proven both practically and economically in mass markets and Metro in Germany looks like being a leader here. It has been moving more slowly and deliberately than some of its peers in other countries but this is now looking rather like the story of the hare and the tortoise.