2005 : Yearly Market analysis and forecasts

Mobile communication
– Mobile communication confirms its status of the largest and fastest growing segment with a growth of 24% in volume compared to 2004
– Growth is mostly driven by emerging countries in all regions: Latin America, Eastern Europe, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa
– Americas recorded the fastest growth
– Growth in Europe Middle-East and Africa was driven by strong sales in Eastern Europe and Africa
– Contraction of Chinese demand for mobile communication
– Telecom payphone cards (memory cards) continue to drop significantly (-18% vs. 2004)

Financial services: 20% vs. 2004
– Despite slowdown in UK, EMV migration with substantial rollout in many European countries and some Asian countries
– Contactless payment deployment in the US

Government / Healthcare: +25% vs. 2004
– Government ID and health card projects deployment in the Middle East (Oman), Asia Pacific (Australia) and Europe (Austria, Belgium…)
– ePassport projects moving from planning and interoperability testing to pilot stage and from pilot to implementation (Belgium, Australia, Portugal, Czech Republic, …)