“In addition to the Alien IPO, the industry has been buzzing for the last few weeks about two large RFID reader buys, the first from Wal-Mart, the second from grocery chain Albertsons. Wal-Mart is expected to purchase 15,000 readers, split between Impinj and Alien. Albertsons is reportedly going to buy 5,000 readers, all from Symbol. None of the companies involved would comment when contacted by RFID Update. According to numerous sources, Wal-Mart’s vendor choice of Impinj and Alien was based largely on price. While the exact per-reader price is not known, it is understood to be very aggressive and lower than any publicly advertised Gen2 reader list price; that is, less than $1,000. Many of the people RFID Update spoke with believe such pricing would be difficult for reader vendors to extract profit from. But they also point to other reasons that the vendors would want Wal-Mart’s business. As an example, a big reader buy from Wal-Mart would be a very timely feather in Alien’s cap given the company’s planned initial public offering.”