RFID revolution "a forced march"

Wal-Mart's RFID revolution has been a "forced march," says one source quoted in this Network World story. From the piece:

And in 2003, when Wal-Mart CIO Linda Dillman shocked the retail world by announcing that Wal-Mart was going to require all of its suppliers (beginning with the top 100) to tag pallets and cases of merchandise with RFID chips, the technology was immature and untested.

Today, 600 of Wal-Mart's 60,000 suppliers (plus 750 Sam's Club suppliers) have deployed RFID. On Wal-Mart's end, RFID has been rolled out at 1,000 of the roughly 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the United States.

Wal-Mart's original goal was to have 12 of its roughly 120 distribution centers outfitted for RFID by 2006. Today, only five are set up for RFID, as the company has shifted its RFID focus to in-store implementations.

TK: Still, WM is given credit for being on the bleeding edge of seeking ROI from RFID. And while the first generation chips were $1.25, the second generation chips are more like 7 to 10 cents each and read rates have jumped above 90%. So there is competitive advantage in RFID after all - maybe. Speaking of setting timelines, one wonders if the Produce Traceability Initiative will come out with a timeline that is suitably ambitious without being practically unrealistic.