Like It or Not, RFID Is Coming

Found on Business Week on Wednesday, 24 March 2004
Browse Technology

The decision by Wal-Mart (WMT) and other retailers to require that their largest suppliers attach inventory-tracking RFID (radio frequency identification) chips to their products is creating a brand-new chip market -- one with a bright future. RFID chips, whose data can be grabbed by electronic readers, could one day hold all of an individual's personal information. In theory, that means they could displace credit cards, medical-insurance cards -- perhaps even wallets, predicts Scott McGregor, CEO of Philips Semiconductors, a division of Koninklijke Philips Electronics (PHG) and the world's No. 1 maker of RFID chips, which are also known as "tags."

And for a lot of makers of sports shoes, RFID provides added benefit to customers. The average life of a sports-shoe model is about three months. Say that when your shoes wear out, you want a similar pair. It's incredibly difficult today for the retailer to tell a customer which new model corresponds to the old one. But we could fix that with RFID. That's a great sales tool.

Also, privacy concerns around RFID tags are a little like concerns about supermarket scanners years ago. When the laser scanners were coming out, everybody was saying, retailers are going to collect information about what you buy. And none of that happened. I think the situation with RFID is similar.

I somehow don't like the idea of being trackable; or having my whole life inside a tag. Besides, if a retailer only recognizes a shoe because it scans the tag, then he shouldn't do the job. And hello? Retailers do collect information about what you are buying; that's the whole idea behind those loyalty cards.