NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – SIM card vendor trade group the SIMalliance acknowledged for the first time that NFC SIM shipments are dropping and blamed disappointing take-up by consumers, as well as the tail end of the impact of the closing of the Softcard joint venture in early 2015. The group again declined to release global NFC SIM shipment figures, however.
(See table below on biggest SIM-based NFC wallet fails).
The fall in SIM shipments was not a surprise. The trade association, whose members represent approximately 90% of worldwide SIM card shipments, a year ago declined to release NFC SIM shipment figures for either the North America region or globally for the first time since 2011, saying only the global shipment figures were “static.” This year, it declined to release figures for any region, but acknowledged they were down, saying “consumer uptake of SIM-based mobile payments has been lower than anticipated in recent years.