SIM sliding away

Eurosmart, which calls itself the “voice of the smart security industry”, presented positive results for the past, with an 11% growth in volume between 2010 and 2011, and an even better outlook with an anticipated 13% growth between 2011 and 2012. Even if the SIM card represents the bulk of volumes, sales and profits for the industry, the core source of growth for secure transactions stakeholders is now shifting away from it. Average Selling Price (ASP) drop is no longer an issue, as the prices are already rock bottom. Government ID, healthcare, banking, retail and transport are expected to have a stronger growth than SIM cards, especially thanks to ID documents, healthcare cards and EMV nationwide deployments.

At the same time, in an ever-more connected world, the secure transaction industry is establishing itself as providing the appropriate level of security for our interactions with the online world.

The industry now anticipates embedded SIMs are bound to happen, even if no one dares giving a schedule. Embedded SIMs, first trialed with M2M implementations, will be present in handsets in the coming months. The balance of power between mobile network operators, handset vendors, SIM suppliers and subscribers is to shift. The secure transactions industry will, as a whole, have to make the right decisions if it does not want to be totally sidelined by the preferred relationship established between handset vendors and subscribers. The best allies of our industry are MNOs who are at the same risk.

The secure transactions industry is already anticipating gluing silicon into plastic will no longer be its core positioning. It already has the marketing speech about its future role. Now, we have to make it become a reality.

Thierry Spanjaard

Chief Editor

Smart Insights