Emerging Industry Overview: Smart Cards
Industry Snapshot
After a decade of slumber, the U.S. smart card business began to catch up to its European and Asian industry counterparts in the first decade of the twenty-first century with everyone from Microsoft Corp. to American Express Co. to the Washington, D.C. subway system getting in on the action. While smart cards--credit-card-like devices containing integrated circuits for memory and processing power--have been the rage in Europe and Asia for years, introducing them in the United States had been slow and arduous. However, American Express led the way when it put marketing muscle behind...