Aussies claim mobile ticketing record

SCANNER FIRM Bcode is claiming CeBIT Australia was the largest mobile-ticketed event ever.

The firm sent a bar code to some 10,000 attendees' mobile phones and scanned these as punters cam in through the doors. Bcode claims the process took less than ten seconds with the scanning itself taking less than half a second.

The INQ can remember the good old days when the CeBIT authorities demanded to see a picture next to a by-lined article in order to issue a Press badge.

Bcode claims its technology was chosen because it works on 99 per cent of all phones in existence. It does so by sending the code as an SMS (text) rather than a picture message.

This isn't the first time that CeBIT Australia has used mobile ticketing, either. Perhaps Bcode could have a word with the organisers of 3GSM Barcelona? It usually takes a good hour to get into the show on Monday morning even if you have pre-registered.

British market watcher, Juniper Research, predicts the market for mobile ticketing will be worth $38 billion by 2009. µ

L'INQ
Bcode