By David Snow

Worldwide, mobile users are now beginning to adopt mobile tickets as an integrated part of their mobile lifestyle – whether for airline, road or rail transport, or for sporting or entertainment event access – and as an integrated component of their mobile wallet.

Key Advantages for Facility Operators

The report found that mobile ticketing solves key problems for facility operators whether in the transport or events markets. The ability to sell and deliver tickets through the mobile channel without the need for extra staff or real estate has a significant impact on operator profitability, especially as user numbers are continually increasing and need to be supported with minimal investment.

Simple and Secure User Experience is Vital

The report warns, however, that mobile ticketing applications must be simple to use and win the confidence of the user both in terms of the security and reliability of the mobile ticketing service. A single poor user experience may put off a user for a long time and runs the risk of nullifying the advantages for the facility operator.

Mobile ticketing together with mobile payments are the front running applications in the mobile commerce market today. Mobile ticketing may be the first mobile commerce application that will be adopted at a mass market level, so it’s important that users receive a first class experience; that is the major challenge for all players in the mobile ticketing ecosystem.

Other findings from the report include:

• 1 in 8 mobile users in Western Europe will use their phone as a contactless metro ticket by 2016.

• By 2016, NFC mobile tickets will represent more than 50% of all mobile ticketing revenue.

The whitepaper ‘mTicket ~ mTransport ~ mEvent’ is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the study ‘Mobile Ticketing Evolution: NFC, Forecasts & Markets 2011-2016’.

About the author

David Snow is the author of this report, working at Juniper Research, which provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.