NTT Communications and Tmsuk will test an RFID-driven shopping assistant robot at a shoping mall in Fukuoka. The robot reads RFID tags embedded in the floor and get information about its location (it doesn’t use GPS or other location technologies). The pilot test will take place on the 9th of February and lasts till the 15th. The robot can assist in-store shoppers as well as remote shoppers at home.
RFID technology’s time may finally be coming if implementers can learn to look beyond its current characterization as a product ID-code system, according to a new Gartner report. Findings from “Market Share and Forecast: Radio Frequency Identification, Worldwide, 2004-2010”. According to the report, worldwide RFID spending for 2005 is likely to reach $504 million, a 39 percent increase from the previous year. Accelerating adoption will lead to new license revenue of $751 million by the end of 2006, with worldwide spending topping $3 billion by 2010.
Omron Corporation, a $5.5 billion Japanese manufacturer of automation and sensing products, will invest $20 million worldwide over 2005 and 2006 as a first step in seizing a larger share of the U.S. and global RFID market. The company’s aggressive entry into the U.S. marketplace focuses on its RFID label inlay and reader products. Omron president and chief executive officer Hisao Sakuta, who has appointed himself as project leader, said “RFID is an important, global initiative which requires a large investment. I believe RFID could be a major growth engine for the company.”
Omron Corporation, a global leader in automation, sensing and control technologies, announced today it will ship an IC tag inlay compliant with Class 1 Generation 2 (C1G2) of EPCglobal specifications. Sample shipments, the first from any Japanese manufacturer, will start in October to suppliers of major retailers, label converters and others. Mass production is scheduled to begin in February 2006*. The sample shipped IC tag inlay conforms to the UHF band 902-928 MHz used in the U.S., and is also compliant with EPCglobal Class1 Generation 2 (C1G2), as defined by EPCglobal, the international standardization organization.
NTT DoCoMo has teamed up with Urahara.org and TechFirm to launch a new Felica-enabled service called TownPocket in Harajuku. Customers with RFID chip handsets will have access to easy registration for coupon campaigns, contests and prizes at 153 participating stores in the youth-trendy downtown shopping district. The campaign is set to launch on 8 August and organizers are targeting a total of 300 participating locations in the area by the end of September. [Japanese Press Release]
Internet Initiative Japan Inc., IIJ Technology Inc., and Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd., have formed a business alliance for the commercialization of an RFID platform using networks based on international RFID standards called the EPCglobal Network. Through this alliance, the three companies will offer global real-time SCM (supply chain management), which can be put to practical use for intercompany and international logistics.
East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (DoCoMo) announced today that they have signed a basic agreement to discuss joint development and management of common infrastructure for JR East’s Suica e-money and DoCoMo’s upcoming “Osaifu-Keitai” credit card service, both based on FeliCa smart card technology. [Ed’s note: They announced the tie-up at this presser back in March]
Fujitsu announced on June 28 that it has added an RFID tag chip with 256B of FRAM (ferroelectric random access memory) to its FerVID family of RFID tag chips. Designed using a 0.35-micron process, the MB89R119 runs at a clock speed of 13.56MHz and supports a wireless communications range of 70cm and a data speed of 26.48Kbps. The chip is sample-priced at 50 yen (46 cents). Fujitsu will launch sales on August 1, aiming to sell 5 million units per month.
Japanese IC cards have pop posters grooving to a techno beat this summer. Fans of hunky J-Pop star Shogo Hamada just flash their Suica rechargeable RFID train commuter card at specially designed high-tech poster displays around town to reserve a copy of his newest album, My First Love. Japanese are calling this new interactive ad medium, “Denki Posta” (electronic posters). Popping up in all sorts of variations, most have plasma-display panels and flat-panel speakers.
Suica’s IC card technology has been a runaway hit in Japan. More than ten million are in circulation around the country and the service has brought in numerous retail partners for cashless payments at shops and restaurants within the stations. It was developed by Sony together with Japan Railways East Corporation and will soon migrate from hands to handsets. In January 2006, DoCoMo plans to combine their Felica smart card e-money platform with the Suica commuter card into a series of mobile handsets.
EM Microelectronic has developed in cooperation with Skidata and EC-Passage a transponder chip, the EM4026, which greatly facilitates the handling and identification of rented skis or snowboards at ski resorts. The battery-less transponder, which contains the chip connected only to a small antenna, is integrated into the ski at manufacturing time and powered by the reader field that can operate at temperatures down to -40C.
