By 2027, most companies will have more RFID readers than telephones. This prediction from Odin Technologies CEO Patrick Sweeney is one of many technology predictions made at the recent RFID World Boston conference.

The conference focused on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology as an authentication and security tool.

Sweeney also predicts that in 20 years advanced batteries—perhaps those fueled by hydrogen—will increase the usefulness of active RFID tags. In the next three to five years, he says, Intel’s new R1000 chip will allow companies to make tiny RFID readers at half the cost of today’s readers.

According to another conference speaker, Jeff Schaengold of Siemens, the future of RFID is to skip the labeling process and instead incorporate RFID tags directly into products’ primary packaging, much like UPC bar codes. This process will involve printing an RFID tag as part of a product’s four-color packaging. Siemens is so confident in this scenario, he says, the company has invested heavily in PolyIC, a startup developing printed electronics.

Printed RFID tags are also part of the future view of Alistair McArthur, chief technology officer at Tagsys. McArthur also predicts we’ll soon see RFID tags with no external antennae; instead the antennae will be part of the chip.

Frank LoVerme of Kestrel Wireless envisions a future in which specially configured RFID tags protect DVDs and other electronics from theft in the supply chain. The tags will allow manufacturers to disable their products before they leave the production facility and then allow retailers to enable them at point-of-sale, making products stolen from warehouses or retail stores essentially worthless.