2005 Price Estimates Price for RFID Use

This is from a US Department of Commerce Report on Radio Frequency Identification (April 2005).

 

"Current tag costs range from 25 to 40 cents per tag (higher in some cases, depending upon the type of tag), making it relatively expensive for low-end consumer items. The Auto-ID Labs (former Auto-ID Center) expects tag prices to drop to 10 cents in 2005 and 5 cents in 2006 for orders of 1 million units.7 In 2004, Gillette placed an order for 500 million tags and was able to obtain a bulk rate of 10 cents per tag. RFID reader costs are also relatively high due to limited uptake of RFID systems. The Auto-ID Labs also expects reader costs to come down from about $250 in 2003 to about $100 in 2005 and to $70 in 2006. Finally, middleware  costs include computer hardware, software, data processing, data mining, personnel salaries, and personnel training. Information technology consulting firm AMR Research estimates that a consumer products company shipping 50 million cases a year could spend upwards of $20 million for RFID implementation."

Mercury Technology Labs is looking for more up-to-date information on this front and the interaction with the world of sensors.  We could imagine in 2010 that RFID tags will become the smarter and sense telemetry of thinks that are attached too.  Utilizing the same communications infrastructure as modern day RFID, they could relay more information to supply chains.