Section 6.6. Conclusion

6.6. Conclusion

A comparison to bar codes did not make RFID look as promising as the current hype makes it out to be. In fact, you might be wondering whether RFID is heading toward failure because it cannot replace bar codes. This is a completely incorrect opinion! Although it might be true that RFID will not replace bar codes, such a fact does not herald the demise of RFID technology. Why? Because there is life beyond bar codes! No law states that RFID must replace bar codes to be successful. An untold number of applications for which bar codes are totally out of context represent a wide opening for RFID. Examples of these applications include smart tags, anti-tampering tags, and tags to locate objects in real time; for these scenarios, RFID might just be the right technology.

The problem with the bar code versus RFID debate does not have to do with the technology, but with the misguided zeal to prove the superiority of RFID. Hype that one of the most prevalent technologies today will be defeated "soon" attempts to make people notice and accept RFID. As it turns out, however, such hype targets a competing technology that is hard to defeat with the current state of RFID technology.

The comparison of the two technologies in this chapter exposed some of the major improvements RFID technology needs. Therefore, two things might have happened in this chapter: First, you might have seen through the hype, and this understanding might have created a negative opinion about the technology; second, the current hurdles RFID faces might have prompted you to create some hype of your own regarding the "failure" of the technology. Please just let the facts guide your opinions.

Whether RFID can replace bar codes does not prove much about the success or demise of the technology. Bar code applications are just some of the areas where RFID can be applied. In fact, RFID can be applied in applications that lie completely beyond the reach of bar codes. Therefore, these two technologies have distinct capabilities and ranges of applications where they perform well. Any comparison that leads to the demeaning of one technology over the other is not rational. As RFID matures, the technology might induce the development of applications that are currently thought too difficult or even impossible. Finally, note that many considered bar code systems a failure at their inception during the 1970s. Since then, bar code technology has come a long way (to probably the most used technology in the world today). From this perspective, it is safe to write that RFID has the chance to become one of the most used technologies in the world 30 years from now.