http://www.rfid-monthly.com/?p=593
Does RFID Have Longevity?
February 22, 2009, 8:33 am
Given Sam’s pushback, P&G’s retreat from Wal-Mart and the weakened economy resulting in less capital for RFID, we suggested tag volumes would likely be down in the first part of 2009. (((Not good news for a business that always depended on steadily advancing rollouts throughout the world of global logistics.)))
This past week, Zebra announced it took a $143M charge to impair goodwill associated with its Enterprise Solutions Group acquisitions, mostly related to WhereNet, and a $15M charge to impair the value of its license with Intermec to produce Gen 2 product. The impairment with WhereNet is related to a severe fall off in the automotive markets, and considerable slowing in the commercial and intermodal markets.
The licensing write-down simply reflects how slowly the Gen 2 market has progressed relative to expectations. Recall, Zebra joined Intermec’s rapid start program in 2005 paying an upfront licensing fee.
With all of this bad news showering down on the RFID industry, we have fielded questions about the industry’s ability to survive on a long-term basis. While we believe the near term will contain a good amount of challenge, and while we expect to see some players leave the industry, we see several factors that suggest RFID will survive in the long run.... (((Given that this is industry-booster RFID Monthly speaking, this sure doesn't sound like a ringing vote of confidence in arphidland. Wal-Mart, Procter and Gamble and of course the snakebitten automotive industry are no longer in any mood to boost an industry that cannot pay off pronto. Add to that a chastened Defense Department, and the once-imperial RFID business really does look frail.)))
(((Strange to think that the whole elaborate RFID infrastructure might quietly come a cropper, with privacy advocates dancing on its unmarked grave. Given that the frail and shaky MainStream Media never seemed to notice RFID in the first place, would there be anybody left to tell us what had happened, and why?)))
