the 5-cent tag has arrived ... for those who can afford it

Got $5 million in your budget for tags? If so, you can purchase the cheapest RFID tags in town. Israel-based SmartCode announced last month that it's making its Gen 2 EPC-compliant RFID tags available at a cost of five cents apiece for orders of 100 million tags or more. For those unable to buy in such quantities, SmartCode has set prices at 7.2 cents per tag for orders of 10 million units, and 7.5 cents per tag for orders of one million units.

Despite its daunting order volume requirement, SmartCode says several companies have expressed interest. In fact, Roy Apple, the company's vice president of business development, says he sees the potential for many buyers in the 100 million tag range. "When you take into account the sheer numbers of consumer packaged goods manufacturers shipping into Wal-Mart, the DOD, Target, Best Buy, Albertson's, Tesco in the UK, and Metro in Germany," says Apple, "100 million units is just the beginning."