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Admission Tickets as Text Messages

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the hope-you-have-a-cell-phone dept.

lee1 writes to tell us that InfoWorld is reporting that Smartmachine and their partner Skidata have developed a new way to allow customers to purchase and receive tickets to events. The new ticketing system allows users to "have a ticket sent to their mobile phone via SMS (Short Message Service) in the form of a 2D (two-dimensional) bar code. At the gate, they slide their mobile phone display showing the bar code by a bar code reader." The new technology also claims to help combat the counterfeit, pilferage, and repeat use that can be such a problem for paper tickets.

20 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. And they'll pass the cost savings on to... by Kittyflipping · · Score: 4, Insightful

    themselves! And to add value to the consumer, they will (automatically) sign you up for text messages about upcoming events that may be (but probably aren't) of interest to you! Sorry for the cynicism, but I haven't found ticketing agencies to be all that honest (e.g. Fandango signed me up for a subscription to a 3rd party children's website because I clicked on an ad for a few bucks off my purchase. I read the ad and closed it; it wasn't anything I was interested in because I didn't have kids. Unbeknownst to me, Fandango had sent my credit card information to this site and signed me up!)

    1. Re:And they'll pass the cost savings on to... by east+coast · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sorry for the cynicism

      I doubt few would disagree with you... Look at ticketmaster. The last time I bought a ticket via TM I was charged somewhere about 8 USD for a "convience fee". I bought the ticket online and picked the ticket up at the box office. So what's the convience? The fact that I did my own order entry and seating research instead of tying up one of their customer services sales reps on the phone for 15 minutes on an 800 number? The fact that they didn't have to put the ticket in an envelope and mail it to me? I SAVED them money by doing my business on the internet and still I got smacked with a fee as if doing things on my own is somehow easier....

      Wait, yeah, considering the level of competence of the average sales rep, I guess it was more convient.

      --
      Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
    2. Re:And they'll pass the cost savings on to... by mottie · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ticketmaster actually charges MORE for you to print your own tickets. How ridiculous is that? It's cheaper to go to their counter, use their clerk's time, and use their ink/paper.. I didn't realize that it cost so much to send PDFs out by email. They must be using Adobe Acrobat Professional or something..

  2. Plan B by biocute · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I sure hope they have taken into account for SMS delay, SMS MIA, deleted SMS, lost mobile phone, hacked/guessed barcode and whatnot. In short, is there a Plan B when someone lost this eTicket, or a cracker guessed/keygened a barcode and used it before the real owner did?

    Paperless ticketing, while important, will only cause monetary loss, imagine if a country is crazy enough to adapt paperless voting where voters don't get a "vote receipt" in case something or someone messed up the results.

    --
    Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
    1. Re:Plan B by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hmm, why would the barcode need to be hacked/guessed? Why not just pull it straight out of the air? Or is SMS more secure than I thought?

      imagine if a country is crazy enough to adapt paperless voting where voters don't get a "vote receipt" in case something or someone messed up the results.

      What, you mean like the US of A?

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    2. Re:Plan B by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Informative

      HTH: GSM Security FAQ

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Plan B by aonaran · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wow, if ticket takers are willing to accept a barcode displayed on an LCD I imagine that it'll only be a matter of tiem till someone writes a Java phone program that quickly cycles through a bunch of random barcode numbers till it hits on one that the system accepts.

      You'd probably have several seconds to do it before the person scanning it gives up trying to scan the "bad phone display" and tries another way to verify the ticket.

    4. Re:Plan B by digitalchinky · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It doesn't matter what the phone uses 'over the air', your SMS can still be read out of the CCITT 7 which is beamed as part of a bog standard timeslot in a completely unencrypted T1/E1 between the cell station and the exchange. (Or mulitplexed in some other standard manner) Encryption usually only happens between the phone and the cell station, nowhere else along the chain.

      It'll cost a small chunk for the equipment, though all of it can be obtained off the shelf. Spec An, RX equipment, downconverters, modems, digital capture card, pc.

  3. Like public transport in finland by slart42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've seen the same system in use for public transport tickets in Helsinki. People send an sms to some number, and the fare is deducted from their phone bill. As a proof of purchase the get a text message, which can be shown to the conductor on ticket controls..

    1. Re:Like public transport in finland by bynary · · Score: 3, Funny

      ...the fare is deducted from their phone bill.

      So if you buy enough public transit tickets your phone usage is free?

      --
      http://www.bynarystudio.com
    2. Re:Like public transport in finland by de_valentin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The real advantage for the average concert fan is that it makes it a lot harder for someone to buy all the tickets and go and sell them online for twice the normal value which I know is a major problem in Belgium and the Netherlands. As long as you can't just send the sms to the next guy.

      --
      It's no big deal some of my best friends are M$ certified engineers
  4. This is a bummer... by east+coast · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How will I save my ticket stub for my collection? Ticket stubs are badges of honor among certain fans.

    --
    Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
  5. Let's see if I got this straight by slapout · · Score: 4, Funny

    So you buy the ticket on your cell phone, have to bring the phone to the theater with you, and then the first thing they tell you when you sit down is "Please turn off your cell phone"?

    --
    Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
  6. Old news in Korea by neoshmengi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Koreans have been doing this for years. To promote it they gave you a discount if you used the cell phone technique.

    It makes a lot of sense. It's convenient to order the tickets, also via cell phone, and then you don't have to wait in line. And everyone there has a cell phone.

    Funfact: In South Korea when you buy a movie ticket, you can buy a particular seat, like at a sports game.

    1. Re:Old news in Korea by neoshmengi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Cell phones are unbelievably ubiquitous in Korea. Old people have them, elementary kids have them, I've even seen homeless people with them. I never met anybody in Korea who didn't have a cell phone. It has become a way of life.

      That being said, I would image that younger people are more likely to use the service.

  7. Oh good... by Quaoar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now people will have a REASON for bringing their cell phones to a movie...*Grumble*

    --
    I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
  8. Heard at Woodstock anniversary concert... by LM741N · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey man- there's some bad RAM going around out there. Be careful.

  9. Are those SMS? by Fr4ncis · · Score: 3, Informative

    Are you sure they send SMS? Short Message Service is used to send just plain text, while MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is used to send images as well as music and other nice stuff. I'm not sure you can compose a bar code with an SMS message!

  10. Re:What? by Bassman59 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    How does this combat counterfieting, pilfering and repeat usage? Are they saying a txt message is harder to generate than a realistic looking ticket?? Or a cell phone is harder to steal? Or that they're going to rip your cell phone in half once you pass through the gate? I can see some convenience advantages but I really don't understand that statement.

    Presumably, the "tickets" are generated uniquely by some mechanism that's "difficult" to hack. And once you go through the turnstile, your "ticket" is scanned and the database to which the scanner is connected marks it as used. This is no different from paper tickets with barcodes that are scanned at the gate.

    -a

  11. Re:SMS? by mendaliv · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe they're ASCII art barcodes.