DUBLIN, Ireland — Research and Markets, an international market research and market data firm, has released "Mobile Ticketing: Transport, Sport Entertainment & Events 2008-2013/"
According to Research and Markets, a mobile ticketing user is "someone who stores a ticket on their mobile phone for later redemption" at the point of travel, the music venue, the cinema etc. The purchase of the ticket does not need to have been initiated on the mobile phone and, more than likely, the main point of purchase for mobile tickets is currently either online at an eCommerce Web site, via a telephone call center or alternatively at a physical ticket outlet or kiosk. This definition therefore includes mobile boarding passes for air travel, even if the ticket has been purchased through a non-mobile channel. This is not to say that there will be occasions when the full end-to-end transaction — the purchase, storage and redemption — will all occur on the mobile device.
This full end-to-end transaction is the ultimate mobile ticketing solution. In terms of definition of "mobile device," the report makes the distinction that the primary function must be mobile telephony. This excludes other mobile devices that have a different primary function such as entertainment, e.g. digital music player or portable games console, or travel, e.g. a GPS enabled mapping device.
Organizations that control the issuance and redemption of tickets are seeing the advantages that mobile phones have over other ticketing options, namely paper-based and electronic tickets stored on a smart card. Those organizations, including Ticketmaster and Tickets.com, Major League Baseball and the International Air Travel Association, are promoting and developing mobile-ticketing applications, trials and services.
