By Aileen Ryan, RAIN Alliance President

When I was interviewing for the role of President of the RAIN Alliance two years ago, I had many discussions with the Board about scaling the RAIN sector globally. It was clear that one of the most exciting and important developments was going to be the inclusion of RAIN readers in mobile handsets – something I’m excited to say is now within our reach.

A few years ago, handset manufacturers understood that including NFC readers in mobile devices would unleash new use-cases and opportunities for additional revenue generation. Similarly, there is now an emerging recognition of the value in use-cases enabled by the inclusion of RAIN readers – both in enterprise and consumer contexts and to drive sustainability use cases.

The question I hear most often is, “When will RAIN be available in mobile devices?” As part of our efforts to ensure RAIN is included as a preferred technology for DPP, we gathered some input. I’m sharing some notable comments below.

  • Qualcomm statement: The integration of RAIN technology into mobile devices is rapidly progressing, with the initial rollouts focusing on enterprise mobile devices, expected within a few quarters. Consumer devices equipped with RFID technology are set to follow. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is actively involved in the ecosystem that is turning this vision into reality.
  • Impinj statement: For the past two decades, Impinj has focused on developing innovations and partnerships to realize our mission to connect every thing and, in so doing, improve people’s lives. RAIN-enabled mobile devices are a critical next step on the path to enabling enterprises and people to connect with items everywhere and at any time, including in the supply chain, in stores and in everyday life – at work, in transit, at home and even at end-of-life recycling. They truly represent the next step in turning our mission into reality.
  • Decathlon statement: Since 2004 we have been a pioneer in RAIN technology, taking advantage of its full potential all over our value chain. In 2019, we took a significant step forward by equipping 100% of our products with RAIN tags. With these new enterprise RFID smartphones, our teammates will turn product interactivity to an ultimate level to maximize operational efficiency and boost in store customer experience. By allowing our customers to directly connect with our products through RFID-enabled smartphones, we will empower them with unparalleled seamless omnichannel shopping journeys and open a new era of amazing experiences in sport practice and product services.

In enterprises, integrating RAIN readers into the mobile devices that employees within retail, logistics, healthcare and other sectors use daily, would open up valuable opportunities for their employers. Compared with stand-alone RAIN handheld readers which are used intermittently, mobile devices with embedded RAIN readers would enable employees to drive further operational efficiencies – such as finding stock quickly or carrying out periodic inventory checks.

Critically, this would also open up additional revenue opportunities, as the embedded RAIN readers could be used to enable mobile POS capabilities, confirm manufacturing data, check expiry dates, and even confirm product authenticity.

In the consumer context, there are a range of use cases enabled by the inclusion of RAIN readers in mobile handsets. These include allowing consumers to scan tagged items and conveniently purchase products (“scan and go”), order or re-order items online, confirm a product’s authenticity, and monitor medication adherence.

There are even more use cases for RAIN readers in mobile handsets when it comes to the emerging EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) legislation. This includes the ability to access DPP product data via a consumer smartphone; exploring manufacturing history and a product’s characteristics and features to make informed choices; retrieving end-of-life and recycling information; revealing counterfeiting; and proving product authenticity in the rental, product-as-a-service, and second-life market.

These new enterprise, consumer, and sustainability use cases will drive additional value for numerous stakeholders. Handset manufacturers will be able to deliver new opportunities for the consumer to pay and the ability to confirm product authenticity. Brand owners and retailers can provide easier product ordering; mobile network operators can offer higher data volumes as a result of increased mobile usage; and even cloud providers will benefit, with more traffic requiring more data storage.

Truly, we are standing on the cusp of a new wave of innovation, with RAIN in mobile devices as a key enabler. What an exciting time for the RAIN Alliance!