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Mobile RFID Reader Shortage?

Written by Evan Schuman
August 23rd, 2010

Everywhere else in the world, the cliché is “When it rains, it pours.” But for retailers now focusing on RFID projects, a more apt phrase would be “When it rains, it’s a drought.” That’s because a major financial investment firm is reporting a sharp mobile RFID reader shortage. The cause: lots of RFID projects, with Wal-Mart’s 20,000-unit-order leading the way.

The report comes from investment firm Robert W. Baird & Co., according to SupplyChainDigest. Beyond Wal-Mart, the reasons cited were “supply constraints that have lasted for months in basic electrical components that have caused delivery problems in a wide number of high tech gear, including mobile devices”; a 23,000-customer order from a European logistics company; and the recent leap in popularity of mobile–versus fixed–RFID readers. “A quick check at ScanSource, a distributor that sells exclusively to other resellers and VARs, showed about half of the models of Motorola 9090-G mobile RFID terminals were in-stock, and the other half showing as ‘call for availability,'” the story said. RFID: Can’t live with it, can’t live without it.

Posted in In-Store, IT Strategy/Industry, Mobile/Wireless/Contactless, RFID, Supply Chain
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