By John Levett

One in every eight mobile users worldwide will either have a ticket delivered to their mobile phone or buy a ticket with their phone by 2015 which equates to over 750 million users, according to the analysis from Juniper Research. This compares with approximately 1 in 20 now which equates to 230 million. Ticket delivery will be by SMS, bar codes, mobile web, smartphone apps or NFC.

Whilst mobile ticketing users are currently concentrated in a number of early adopting transport schemes in Japan, Central & Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, the report determined that opportunities for mobile ticketing will spread right across the transport, sport, entertainment and events sectors.

The Mobile Ticketing report pinpointed the next two years to 2013 as the key period in which mobile ticketing will transition from a minority experience to become mainstream as the mobile plays an ever growing role in all aspects of airline travel, rail travel, festivals and cinemas.

Report author Howard Wilcox pointed out: "Mobile technology is moving the ticket machine into our pockets. Our research demonstrated that mobile ticketing will change the way that many people buy and obtain their regular, every day tickets that are mostly printed at the moment. We foresee strong acceptance driven not only by airlines but also cinemas and some sports events: bar coded boarding passes are a clear case in point."

Juniper’s report contains comprehensive five year forecasting for all the key market parameters including users, transactions and values for transport, sport and entertainment ticketing. Additionally the report highlights conclusions from analysis of 24 vendors addressing the market, which culminates in a new strategy positioning matrix.

Further key findings from the report include:

• Number of primarily developed regions will see penetration of up to one in five users by 2015.

• Growth constraints include existing ticketing infrastructure and danger posed by poor user experience.

Mobile Ticketing whitepaper and further details of ‘Mobile Ticketing Markets: Analysis, Strategic Opportunities & Forecasts 2011-2015’ can be downloaded from http://www.juniperresearch.com/.

About the author

John Levett is PR for Juniper Research, a company which provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.