Online movie ticket retailer Fandango is giving the mobile platform the old college try in eight markets for a new mobile ticket program.
The program in question, aptly dubbed “Mobile Ticket,” is a barcode-based solution that is getting a trial run in hopes of widespread launch in the coming months.
Fandango says “Mobile Ticket” presents theater tickets or passes as barcodes, which are sent to the mobile device of a moviegoer. At the theater, the barcode is scanned much the way a mobile coupon would be scanned at the point of sale. The advantage for moviegoers? No long wait at the box office ticket window.
Fandango’s Mobile Ticket doesn’t require a smartphone and works with the majority of mobile carriers. Initially, the program will reach more than one hundred screens in the Reading Cinemas circuit, including locations in New Jersey, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Bakersfield, Sonoma County, and parts of Hawaii.
“We’ve already seen success in the mobile space with our variety of apps for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm and others,” says Rick Butler, COO of Fandango. “We know that Mobile Ticket will be one more Fandango convenience that moviegoers will enjoy. Our cell phones are with us all the time – so what better way to ensure you have your movie ticket?”
