Mobile Ticketing: The Next Wave

By Brian Thompson

In a time when a young generation of cell phone users are sending thousands of text messages per month on their cellular phones, it is only logical that companies would begin to try to sell their services via cell phones, offering their products to the consumer everywhere they roam.

Ringtone sales have become old news, and now the ticket market is reaching out to cell phone toting customers. StubHub! recently announced a partnership with go2.com, so now mobile customers can access StubHub’s offerings and go2.com applications on their cell phone.

Electronic ticketing is already commonplace, so allowing consumers to purchase tickets on their cell phones could further cut down on paper ticket sales. This would make it difficult for scalpers waiting near events to remain in business, because those who purchase their tickets through their phones will then have an activation bar code image sent to them, which could then be scanned at the gate.

Of course, Nokia proclaimed an end to scalpers last year when it launched its mobile ticketing service Ticket Rush, only to discontinue it quietly this year, with service ending on January 3, 2008. Accounts with Nokia’s partner Live Nation are being given to users of the program. Still, the mobile ticket market is continuing to grow, especially in Europe.

Ticketmaster is planning to launch its own mobile ticketing application, expanding on the success of its TicketFast online ticket delivery service which allows customers to receive their tickets via e-mail.

With the ability to purchase tickets now in their hands, customers have more convenience, and as the market expands, they will begin to enjoy unprecedented choice from primary and secondary ticketers. Customers can now decide at the last moment to go to sold out events, buy a ticket from a reseller on their cell phone, show the barcode sent to them, and just walk right in.