Card Technology articles from June 2003

Card Technology archives from June 2003

Changing The Rules.(regulations for credit card industry)
June 1, 2003... For a quarter century, governments tended to give Visa International and MasterCard International considerable leeway to set their rules and pricing. That is changing, a shift that could affect how quickly banks move to smart cards. The...

More IDs Will Carry Chips.(use of identification cards, documents with biometric data stored on smart card chip)
June 1, 2003... You're next passport is likely to have a contactless smart chip embedded in it. And if you live in the United Kingdom or work in the U.S. transportation industry, it's increasingly likely you will be carrying a smart card ID within a few years....

Chip-Based Ids Are on the Way.(identification cards, chip embedded passports)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Passports International standards for storing biometric data call for a contactless smart card chip embedded in the passport. Could lead to addition of chips to 400 million passports worldwide over next decade. UK ID and passport ...

A 'Best Of Both Worlds' M-Commerce Strategy.(Mobile Payments Services Association)
June 1, 2003... Will banks or telcos profit when consumers make purchases with their mobile phones? Banks control the payment cards and accounts consumers use to pay for Internet purchases. But telcos have the direct relationship with mobile phone customers...

Card Technology Calendar.(conferences, trade shows)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
June 1, 2003... July 23-25: Cards Asia-Singapore Organized by Terrapinn (rescheduled from April) For more information, contact Shen Tan at: Telephone: +65 6 322 2748 Fax: +65 6 223 3554 E-mail: shen.tanterrapinn.com Web site:...

Card-Starved Egypt Tests EMV Cards.(Egypt Post to test use of smart cards)
June 1, 2003... The Egypt Post plans to launch a large test of payment smart cards next year, hoping to demonstrate demand for card-based payment in this cash-dominated society. The nearly $5 million project, funded by the Ministry of Communications and...

MasterCard's Middle East Growth Compared With Other Regions.(a ranking to the company's transaction volume by region)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
June 1, 2003... (part 1 of 2) Country/Region Credit Card* % Change Transaction Volume From 2001 Bahrain 0.11 11.9 Egypt 0.44 71.1 Kuwait ...

Regional News.(smart card industry news briefs)
June 1, 2003... Europe Smart Card Maker Moves To Cut Staff: Less than two months after taking over, the new management of Orga Kartensysteme GmbH is moving aggressively to cut costs at the German company that specializes in manufacturing smart cards for...

Technology Choices For Contactless Payments.(a discussion of various technologies that are available)
June 1, 2003... In last month's issue of Card Technology, Murdo Munro of MasterCard International explained the benefits of contactless payments to consumers, merchants and banks. As he pointed out, consumers in many countries are embracing the...

T-Mobile's Aggressive SIM Card Strategy.(GSM operators seek subscriber identity module cards that are fully interoperable)(Industry Overview)
June 1, 2003... It's code-named project "Titan," and SIM card vendors would rather not talk about it. Titan is the latest effort by a GSM operator to ensure the subscriber identity module cards it buys from its card vendors are fully interoperable. GSM...

ID Card Showdown: Optical Versus Chip.(a comparison of optical strips and smart card chips for ID cards)
June 1, 2003... Major ID projects will soon choose between smart card chips and optical stripes. Managers of big government ID card projects are weighing optical stripe versus chip technology. The winner will take a big step toward becoming a global standard....

Comparing Chip And Optical Stripe.(smart card technologies)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
June 1, 2003... (part 1 of 2) Optical Cards Maximum data storage 2.8 megabytes Cost per card $3 to $9 Cost per reader Approximately $2,500 Active or passive? Passive;...

Turbulence & Opportunity.(a discussion of the smart card chip industry)(Industry Overview)
June 1, 2003... With prices sinking and demand sluggish, it's been tough going for smart card chip makers. They hope a growing appetite for bigger chips will stem the losses, but at least one vendor is not waiting and is ready to shake up the value chain. ...

How Smart Card Chip Vendors Stacked Up By Type of chips.(a ranking of the top smart card chip vendors)(Illustration)
June 1, 2003... (part 1 of 3) Microprocessors Memory Chips Contactless Chips 2002 2001 % change Infineon 286 281 ...

How Smart Card Chip Vendors Stacked Up by Memory Size and Region.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
June 1, 2003... (part 1 of 2) By Memory Size (microprocessor) 8K* 16K 32K 64K Infineon 15% 17% 51% 17% STMicroelectronics 64% 27% 6% 3% ...

ST Gambles On A Value-Chain Shakeup.(STMicroelectronics is working to control more of the smart card industry's value chain)
June 1, 2003... Not surprisingly, recent moves by semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics to shake up the smart card industry's value chain are not playing well with the industry's major card vendors. Geneva-based ST in March announced it was buying...

Falling Prices Mean Lower Revenue.(microprocessor chips)(Illustration)
June 1, 2003... (Average prices for microprocessor chips and total revenue by vendor) (part 1 of 2) Vendor Average Selling Price Revenue* (U.S. dollars) (Millions of dollars) ...

Selling Merchants On EMV.
June 1, 2003... Just about everywhere EMV payment cards will be rolled out, the corresponding rollout of point-of-sale terminals is expected to lag behind. As the first large country to move on EMV, the United Kingdom will be closely watched for hints on...