Here’s a piece of RFID trivia: cumulative sales of RFID tags for 60 years until the beginning of 2006 have totaled $2.4 billion. Here’s a factoid that’s not so trivial: 600 million tags were sold in 2005 alone, according to a new IDTechEx study of the RFID industry. The study, “RFID Forecasts, Players and Opportunities 2006-2016,” reports that the spend on RFID tags in 2005 was $1.2 billion and the total spend on RFID (including tags, readers, services, etc.) was $1.85 billion.

In 2006, the study’s authors expect 1.3 billion tags to be sold. Approximately 500 million of these RFID smart labels will be used for pallet and case level tagging. But the majority will be used for a range of diverse markets, from baggage and passports to contactless payment cards and drugs.

Challenges that still need to be conquered for widespread application in converting operations include tag yield versus cost, frequency acceptance, specification creep, and inconsistent performance levels. As these problems are resolved, the RFID market is projected to grow almost ten times today’s size in value by 2016. The number of tags delivered in 2016 will be more than 450 times the number delivered in 2006, according to the study.