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One in eight to use mobile ticketing by 2015
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Some 750m mobile users worldwide, or one in eight, will use mobile ticketing by 2015, with the rate as high as one in five in more mature mobile markets, according to a new study by Juniper Research. The figure is more than three times higher than the estimated 230m, or one in every 20 mobile users, that currently use mobile ticketing services. However, Juniper claims that a large number of those are concentrated in early adopting transport schemes in areas such as Japan, Central & Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. Juniper defines mobile ticketing as buying tickets using a mobile device, or having tickets delivered to a mobile via SMS, bar codes, mobile web, smartphone apps or near field communication (NFC).
The report claims that the next two years are pivotal in the mass adoption of mobile ticketing in key areas such as transport, entertainment and sporting events. However, Juniper warns that poor user experience and lack of a strong ticketing infrastructure could restrict growth. Among the companies positioned to take advantage of the mobile ticketing space is Masabi, which raised USD2m in September as it seeks to roll-out its mobile ticketing technology to UK rail companies.
Rapidly developing smartphone technology means that mobile ticketing, along with mobile commerce, is poised to explode in the coming months and years. NFC technology in particular is widely expected to drive the spaces’ development. Some of the world’s biggest mobile networks, including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and China Unicom, threw their backing behind the technology last month, pledging to launch commercial services by next year. US mobile networks Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are harnessing NFC to develop and launch a “national mobile commerce network”, known as Isis, enabling users to pay for goods using their phone as firms begin to offer an increasing amount of services to mobile users.
