But this time around, the executives say, they're pinning their predictions on some promising signs. Large-scale smart card rollouts. Cheap and abundant semiconductor chips. The move to smart card interoperability and multiple-application smart cards. But the removal of previous market barriers such as the lack of interoperable platforms and a smart card reader infrastructure in the United States have been tackled, industry executives contend.
Smart cards are a European phenomenon, with penetration increasing in Asia and Latin America.
Last year the United States accounted for just 25 million of the 1.8 billion smart cards used globally. That situation is changing. Mastercard plans to launch several U.S. smart-card programs in the third quarter. The company expects fully half of all Mastercard transactions will be made via e-commerce with smart cards by 2005. Smart-card manufacturers say chip makers are more receptive to the smart card industry's needs this year than they have been in a long time.