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Smart Insights Weekly is a weekly newsletter covering the smart card industry, its businesses, its technologies, and of course, its markets as well as its technology suppliers. Smart Insights covers all the major trends in the industry, it encompasses worldwide business, public and private standardization bodies, industry analysts and also the people belonging to the Smart Card Industry community.

Smart Insights Reports cover the smart card or secure transaction industry. They are industry reports covering a technology, a geographical area or a major issue in the industry. Smart Insights Reports include qualitative and quantitative analysis. They are built on a combination of primary research and secondary research, supported by an intimate knowledge thanks to years of experience in the smart card industry.

Smart Insights publications are brought to you by Thierry Spanjaard who has more than 20 years experience in the industry, in a variety of positions.

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In India, domestic IT services majors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro Technologies and Tech Mahindra and global players like IBM and Japan-based NEC are among the 10 shortlisted companies for the Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) biometrics job. According to sources, this is the second stage of shortlisting. These firms are now qualified for a request for proposal (RFP). In the next five-six weeks, the final bidder will be announced.

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The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston just published a report entitled « Mobile Payments in the United States at Retail Point of Sale: Current Market and Future Prospects », in which the organization analyzes the mobile payment experiences in other markets, and evaluate the prospects for the US market for mobile payments in retail payments, particularly the use of contactless and near-field communication technologies.

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The long anticipated (cf. Smart Insights Weekly #09-19) NFC project in Nice, France is launched, under the authority of Christian Estrosi, Minister of Industry, Mayor of Nice, Chairman of the Nice Cote d'Azur Urban Community.

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Symantec has signed a definitive agreement to acquire VeriSign’s identity and authentication business, which includes the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Services, the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Services, the VeriSign Trust Services and the VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Authentication Service. The combination of VeriSign’s security products, services and recognition as the most trusted brand online and Symantec’s leading security solutions and widespread distribution will enable Symantec to deliver on its vision of a world where people have simple and secure access to their information from anywhere.

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Mature mobile markets such as Western Europe, USA and Japan continue to generate the largest revenues for global mobile groups, according to the latest Wireless Intelligence operator rankings.

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Even if it is a privately owned company, Giesecke and Devrient has the habit of announcing some results every year. Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) achieved consolidated net sales of around EUR 1.7 billion, on a par with the high level of the previous year. Earnings were down approximately 12% on the previous year, with EBIT coming in at EUR 140 million. The net income for the year of EUR 105 million (EUR 111 million in 2008) was the second best in the company's history. At the same time, the company increased its investment in new technologies and equity stakes to EUR 200 million.

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As usual rumors surround Apple’s future plans for development. The specification of the next generation iPhone, to be available in two months from now, is still not clear as whether NFC will be present or not.

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From November 2010 onwards, German citizens will be able to use the new ID card to uniquely identify themselves when using E-Government or E-Business services over the Internet. In the event of such a card being lost, the holder will immediately have his eID blocked from further use. Siemens IT Solutions and Services has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) to develop and integrate the IT solution for blocking functions of the ID card. This solution will permit electronic storage and management of block flags. Siemens IT Solutions and Services will act as the general contractor for the project and is cooperating with the German Federal Printing Office. The solution is scheduled to go live on 1 November 2010.

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Inside Contactless has entered into an agreement to purchase for cash consideration Atmel’s Secure Microcontroller Solutions (SMS) business. The transaction will be financed by the existing Inside investors led by Gimv, which plans to invest EUR 11.2 million, and Sofinnova Partners, along with the French sovereign wealth fund, Fonds Stratégique d'Investissement (FSI), which plans to invest EUR 7.5 million. Atmel also will make an investment in Inside.

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Gemalto just anounced its sales results for Q1/2010, showing a total of EUR 390 million, a 8% increase over Q1/2009, at constant exchange rates, and an expansion in alls market segments:

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