NFC Times Exclusive Insight – It is perhaps a measure of just how big of a hit SIM suppliers took from the closing of the Softcard wallet in the U.S. early last year that their SIMalliance vendor trade group is refusing to release NFC SIM shipment figures publicly for either the North American market or globally for 2015.
The trade association, whose members represent 88% of global SIM card shipments, had reported total NFC SIM card figures for every year since 2011, and volumes had grown strongly through 2014. That growth ended with the folding of the telco joint venture behind the Softcard wallet, which ceased operations at the end of the first quarter of 2015.
The vendor trade group released its annual report on global SIM shipments Wednesday, showing members shipped a total of 4.7 billion SIMs of all types last year, with growth flat from 2014.