Tix Lose Paper Overseas

This year in Singapore and the U.K., some tickets will be purchased by cell phone, and the phone will then act as gate passes.

SISTIC, which claims to handle 90 percent of all ticketed events in the city-state of Singapore, is expected to introduce mobile ticketing, or m-ticketing. In April, a would-be concert-goer can aim a cell phone at a poster and photograph a barcode, which will immediately access a booking page, according to the Malaysia Star. The fan can then purchase a ticket to the event and in return will be a text-messaged a barcode that can be used for entrance at the venue.

The mobile tickets are to be introduced this April and available for all shows by the end of the year.

“The decision to introduce m-tickets is in line with our mission to revolutionize the traditional ticketing business model,” SISTIC’s Jennifer Pok told the paper.

“We hope to be able to phase out paper tickets eventually, but how long it would take would depend on the adoption rate by both consumers as well as industry players.”

She added that the new model will boost ticket sales and benefit consumers.

“In a survey conducted last year, we found that 70 percent of the 2,000 respondents indicated they would choose m-ticketing,” Pok said.

Similar technology is expected to be used this year at 10 of the 12 stadiums hosting the Fifa World Cup football tournament in the U.K., according to PC Advisor. The technology was tested by China International Exhibition Center Group Corporation.

“This reporter tested the technology with his own 3G phone at a demo gate in [an] arena; the service was easy to use and appeared to work without any problems,” the article said.

Stateside, similar technology appears to be in the works. In a statement to Pollstar, Ticketmaster’s David Goldberg said the company is beta testing programs that include using bar codes on wireless devices for events.

“Many of these programs are conducted by Ticketmaster globally so they’re not always visible to consumers in the U.S.,” Goldberg said.