CIPURSE Boosts Appeal by Targeting Non-transit Applications, but Time to Market Will Prove Critical to Future Success

The ability to enable mobile ticketing and multi-application functionality are two of the main criteria being pushed by the OSPT Alliance. The CIPURSE specification will provide additional choice in a market where combined smart card and disposable contactless ticketing shipments are forecast to grow from 1.1 billion in 2013 to 2 billion in 2018. Card issuers are looking at ways to increase the functionality of issued cards with contactless ticketing applications a common “bolt on” application for government ID and payment cards. As well as enabling contactless ticketing through use of the CIPURSE protocol, alliance members are now looking towards enabling other applications using the protocol to create further opportunities, increasing the potential market verticals it is able to serve.

For regions that remain locked due to the adoption of a national specification, CIPURSE can be used in conjunction with regional protocols to enable multi-application functionality. The enablement of applications such as loyalty or micro-payments will significantly increase CIPURSE’s appeal and the variety of market verticals CIPURSE can serve.

The CIPURSE specification is now more comparable with other competing industry protocols. On the release of its V2 specification, additional products were made available for development, providing a wider range of choice and a migration path from lower to higher-end and mobile solutions. There seem to be several product positioning strategies being adopted, whether it’s targeting the protocol towards green field opportunities or providing an alternative solution to allow migration from an existing protocol to CIPURSE. Which strategy wins out remains to be seen and timing could play a critical role in the success rate of CIPURSE.

Research analyst Phil Sealy comments, “Additional products need adding to the certified product list, with some expected to be announced before the year is out ABI Research anticipates the release of the first CIPURSE certified smart card. There are transport authorities waiting on the complete solution to enable adoption, but they will not wait forever. If too much time is taken in the creation of additional CIPURSE products, those waiting may have their hands forced and have no other option, but to adopt a different protocol.”

ABI Research’s CIPURSE Ecosystem report takes a closer look at CIPURSE as a specification and product range, focusing on product positioning and vendor strategies. These findings are part of ABI Research’s Transportation Ticketing Technologies Research Service.

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