The advent of companies that provide interoperable operating systems has created an opportunity for silicon vendors to push themselves up the value chain into the smart card manufacturer territory leading to possible competition with their own clients.

Smart card manufacturers are also moving into services whilst maintaining their positions in software and proprietary operating systems in order to expand their offerings. Today, all traditional card manufacturers have some form of service offering.

2002 was a tough year for smart card manufacturers. Though most companies had an increase in volumes, all suffered revenue declines compared to 2001 due to fierce competition in the low-end SIM market. Prices of SIM cards dropped by 25 to 30 percent in 2002, due to decreased demand from telecom operators and oversupply in the low-end SIM card market.

This was in spite of the increase in unit shipments, over 2001, in the GSM market. Greater demand for higher memory SIM cards was experienced globally as the shipments of 32K and 64K cards improved in 2002.

The global smart card subscription enables companies to make informed decisions in order to capitalize on existing opportunities in the market. Frost & Sullivan information is kept current through revisions and constant contact with industry participants, in order to afford clients with up-to-date trends, insights, and market measurements of the world markets.