Mobile Ticketing Tutorial
Written on Thursday, December 16, 2010
You're out shopping, or for a coffee, and decide you want to go to a live event, the cinema, etc. You're worried you might not get a ticket at the door as the event / film sounds like a sellout. What do you do? (Yes I know the answer's already in the title, and that's why you're reading this, but I just couldn't resist..)
Mobile tickets are paperless tickets which you can purchase online (note: this also means directly from your mobile phone) that will be made available on your mobile phone. A unique token is sent to your mobile, which you can validate on the door - and there are a number of ways to do this.
Depending on your needs and equipment there are two main categories of ticket validation:
- using a barcode scanner,
- using the mobile web.
Barcode scanner
In this scenario, when you purchase a ticket, a unique barcode is sent to your phone, either via SMS, or downloaded via the mobile internet, which is available for offline validation. As a unique barcode, you can have this scanned on the door in order to be allowed in. Of course, the scanner software should be in a position to identify duplicates, as I can very easily send my barcode to all my mates via Bluetooth (unless I've got an iPhone :p ). However, the important advantage of this solution is that no mobile internet is required on the phone - as tickets can be purchased from the desktop/laptop and sent to the mobile phone via SMS. The disadvantage is that the event holder needs to invest in the scanner equipment. The good thing is the investment is a one-off.
Mobile Web
In this scenario, when you purchase a ticket the unique token sent to you will be validated online - and this needs to be done on the door, as this way you can ensure there are no duplicates, or fakes. The key advantage is, obviously, no need for scanners, which means no investment necessary to find out how well it works, which is obviously a big big plus for venue owners / event promoters.
The only problem is that it requires access to the mobile internet, which translates into two things:
The only problem is that it requires access to the mobile internet, which translates into two things:
- an active data plan from the ticket holder,
- good reception on the door, as if the mobile phone doesn't have good signal validation is going to be a slow and painful procedure.
Onto your market options.. I did a very brief search online, cause I didn't think this tutorial would be complete without providing some market-ready products which you can go look at right now. The list is by no means complete - I welcome other service providers to contact me so I can add their link below, or add theirs in the comments.
Mobile Internet (No barcode scanner):
Barcode scanner (No mobile internet):
Posted in
mobile coupons,
mobile payments,
mobile services
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Hi Giorgos,
Great topic. Thanks.
With codeREADr the venue only needs an iPhone, iPod touch 4G or Android smartphone (Jan. 2011) to scan mobile tickets presented on paper media or on mobile phones. Since we exited beta in June our platform is already being integrated by 2 of the top 10 global ticketing companies.
A fun 1-minute YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcRWEayopZM
All the best,
Rich Sr.
Skycore LLC
http://codeREADr.com
Hi,
I tried this... stored an image of a typical EAN-13 barcode into my mobile, displayed it on-screen, then scanned it with a normal retail laser scanner... ... NOTHING!
My hunch is that the emitted light of my mobile is interfering with the scanner detecting the barcode's bars!!! So is a specialised (expensive?) scanner needed too, perhaps? Hope not, because this idea has massive potential, way beyond event ticketing!
ChrisA
@Rich Thanks for the info
@Chris Hmmm... funny you should say that, cause I have actually tried this myself (was curious just like you were) and I found it worked - and much easier than I thought it would.
No idea what the scanner used at the time was, but I was using a SonyEricsson K810 at the time (it was a _while_ ago :) ).