Daytona International Speedway selling tickets on mobile phones

Daytona International Speedway is proud to announce their latest innovation in customer service convenience. Now race fans have the ability to purchase select tickets for the Coke Zero 400 or the Subway Jalapeno 250 using their web-enabled mobile phones. This new service provides an easy-to-use and secure process for purchasing tickets for the fans. To purchase tickets on your web-enabled phone visit mobile.daytonainternationalspeedway.com.

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Two Services to Sell Tickets on Cellphones

Wall Street Journal
By SARA SILVER and ETHAN SMITH

Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Tickets.com Inc. are launching services to let customers buy tickets directly from their mobile phones, in an ambitious attempt to extend Internet commerce to cellphone screens.

Starting this month, U.S. and Canadian BlackBerry users will be able to search Ticketmaster's inventory and purchase tickets on their handsets. Tickets.com will let baseball fans buy and receive tickets via cellphone from 13 Major League Baseball teams starting with the April 10 opening home game of the Oakland A's. Tickets.com is a subsidiary of MLB Advanced Media, LP, the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball.

The push for mobile ticketing comes as customers shift to smart phones, whose faster networks and larger screens come closer to the feel of ordering via computer. While the wireless industry has long awaited the time when cellphones would be used for buying, most purchases have so far been for items consumed on the phone itself, such as ringtones, wallpaper and music.

Mobile ticketing will provide an early case to see how customers take to the new platform. Both deals are aimed at audiences -- BlackBerry users and baseball fans -- known as early adopters of new technologies.

Ticketmaster President Eric Korman draws a comparison with online sales, which have grown rapidly in the past decade, from a small sliver of the company's business to the dominant way people buy tickets. "Today Ticketmaster sells 72% of its tickets online," Mr. Korman says. "That started as a small number 10 years ago."

Baseball fans are increasingly using mobile phones to check game scores, and asking that tickets be sent as barcodes to their mobile phones. MLB sold 32 million tickets last year. Noah Garden, an executive vice president at MLB.com, said he expects mobile ticketing to account for 20% to 40% of the total in 2011.

Baseball promoters are especially eager to spur last-minute purchases of seats, since clubs need to move tickets to 81 home games each season, compared with eight home games for National Football League teams. "I think mobile phones will have a tremendous impact on moving distressed inventory," said Larry Witherspoon, chief executive of Tickets.com.

Previous mobile-ticketing efforts have required customers to connect to an operator to complete the purchase and then return to their computer to print out a receipt. That was mostly due to the technical limits of barcode scanners at airports and venues, which have trouble reading off a brightly lit screen.

"The challenge is not all the digital technology in delivering the ticket, it's the physical technology in getting through the gate," said Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

Tickets.com last year started delivering barcodes to mobile phones, letting holders scan their phones at special turnstiles to enter a venue, and will now let customers complete the entire purchase via phone. "They don't need a computer or a call center," to complete the purchase, said Mr. Witherspoon.

Tickets.com hired UsableNet of New York, which converts Web sites into a format that can be read by 5,000 devices running on different networks. The company has devised sites for Sears.com customers to shop for refrigerators and New York residents to pay utility bills.

Ticketmaster and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., which announced their exclusive partnership in September, have been working together to design the software platform. The feature is part of RIM's investment to spread its devices from the hard-core business user to the mass market. "It's bringing e-commerce to your belt," said RIM's co-chief executive, Jim Balsillie.

Tickets.com Launches Mobile Ticketing Website

Tickets.com Launches ProVenueMobile™, the Industry’s First Mobile Website that Enables Customers to Buy and Receive Tickets Entirely through their Mobile Phones

Costa Mesa, CA – November 10, 2008: Tickets.com, a leading global provider of integrated ticketing solutions, announces the November 5, 2008 launch of ProVenueMobile, a mobile version of their consumer-facing website. The site will establish Tickets.com as the first in its industry to offer customers the ability to complete a ticket transaction from a mobile phone without having to “click to call,” and the first to offer such a service that is seamless and compatible with all makes and models of Internet-enabled mobile phone devices.

“We are excited about this technology, and view it as a major breakthrough for our company and for our clients,” said Larry Witherspoon, CEO, Tickets.com. “Staying ahead of the curve through industry-leading innovation, as well as delivering unparalleled customer support, is our chief mission. Offering this versatile and convenient mobile platform gives Tickets.com the opportunity to reach new milestones in both areas. We are delighted to be able to introduce a green, paperless technology into the marketplace. In early 2009 we look forward to offering website mobilization services to our clients.”

By extending the functionality and services of Tickets.com – including full e-commerce – to the mobile web platform http://mobile.tickets.com, full-circle ticket purchases can be made 24/7 on any handheld mobile device. Missing an on-sale time, waiting in line and being put on hold will be things of the past. The Usablenet Mobile-supported site integrates seamlessly with all web-enabled devices from smart phones (Blackberry, iPhone, Treo, etc.) to basic cell phones with web access. It supports all browsers, file formats, carriers and other technologies, so that Tickets.com customers can shop for and purchase tickets from anywhere, anytime.

The new mobile consumer website ProVenueMobile meshes perfectly with Tickets@Phone®, the groundbreaking mobile ticket delivery feature launched by Tickets.com in 2006 that is increasingly in demand given the rapid growth in the mobile marketplace. Combined with the company’s Tickets@Phone technology, the new mobile-web platform – developed by mobile technologies leader Usablenet – allows Tickets.com consumers to both purchase and digitally receive tickets entirely on their mobile phones from any Tickets.com client venue enabled with Tickets@Phone functionality. The technology delivers barcoded tickets directly to customers’ mobile phones immediately following purchases. The day of the event, the customers simply present their mobile phones for quick and efficient scanned entry into the venue, making the entire ticket transaction experience as simple and convenient as possible.

“The mobile web is a market that is experiencing rapid growth and adoption among consumers. We are partnering with companies like Tickets.com that understand the value of the mobile channel to interact with their customers,” said Nick Taylor, President, Usablenet. “Our goal is to enable customers to successfully and seamlessly access the Website, including all functionality, through an interface customized for their specific mobile device. It’s all about expanding choices and maximizing innovation – when we’re able to partner with a company that’s as dedicated to that as we are, it’s truly rewarding.”