RFID industry analyst Sara Shah says, „“In the year from 1Q 2005 to 1Q 2006, shipments of HF ISO14443 tag ICs increased 104%, the highest growth rate of any segment we measured. This growth can be attributed to an increase in contactless payment cards and personal identification documents, such as e-passports. Both are high volume, high growth applications.““ This month the United States began issuing e-passports to its citizens, following plans it laid out in the Visa Waiver Program. The 27 nations in this program have either begun issuing e-passports or plan to by October, demonstrating that this is a global application of RFID, and that government initiatives are driving—and will continue to drive—the strong growth in this sector. Many countries have plans in the works for other forms of personal identification documents such as government ID cards and national IDs; these will fuel long-term growth in addition to e-passport replacement and re-issuance cycles. During the past year, the United States focused on contactless payment and transit ticketing trials. In North America, there is interest in open loop transit ticketing applications; for example, several major cities such as New York have been testing public transport contactless ticketing systems. Meanwhile other regions including Europe and Asia that began embracing contactless technology earlier are now implementing the technology at higher rates with fuller, wider deployments. These two factors have helped this market achieve significant growth. In addition, notes Shah, „“North American credit card companies are becoming more bullish about contactless payment, and are taking steps to introduce the technology to their customers, for example through media campaigns, trials, and new contactless card distribution. This should continue to drive HF ISO14443 tag IC markets.““ While the HF ISO14443 market includes many applications, ABI Research believes the dramatic growth rate from 1Q05 to 1Q06 was encouraged by these two key applications — personal identification documents and e-passports. The RFID Tag IC Market Sizing Database provides aggregated shipment data reported by leading RFID IC manufacturers worldwide. It is updated quarterly. www.abiresearch.com