Readers also need to be cheap. Our target price for this technology starts at tens of dollars, although again, we cannot be sure how soon this will happen, although work at MIT suggests it will probably be within the next few years. We are opposed to single frequency systems, and believe to pick any one Radio Frequency for transmitting electronic product codes would be a major engineering mistake. Instead, we strongly advocate the use of frequency agile readers that can detect and decode electro-magnetic waves across a broad spectrum. They have a number of major benefits to the end user.
Some frequencies work better near water than others, and some are better with metal, for example.
There are also links between technology and price. Shutting the door on these by choosing a single frequency from those available today would be a grave mistake. Different frequencies are preferred and advocated by different vendors. Many vendors see a single frequency system as a way to create 'lock-in' and therefore competitive advantage for their proprietary technologies. But this means that picking a frequency splinters the market for chips, favors some vendors over others, and potentially restricts the free market in chip technology, at least until those vendors who don't manufacture technology on the preferred frequency catch up.