Almost 15 billion tickets will be delivered to subscribers' mobile devices worldwide by 2014, compared to just over two billion this year, according to a new study from Juniper Research. Western Europe will be the leading region in 2014 based on the number of mobile tickets delivered, taking over from current leader, the Far East & China region.
Junipers Mobile Ticketing report found that services are developing fastest in the transport sector, with SMS, barcode and, increasingly, app-driven services being offered by rail and metro companies and airlines.
But the potential of mobile ticketing does not stop there, Juniper believes. Major cinema chains, concert organisers and sports teams are latching on to the commercial viability, which is driven by both cost savings and the up-sell revenue potential, not to mention the added convenience for the user. There are also new entrants from a variety of angles such as apps start-ups and mobile commerce providers seeking to grasp the opportunities they can see.
Although 15 billion sounds large, it is in fact it a small percentage of total tickets issued; there is plenty of scope for innovative solutions to penetrate this market, says report Author Howard Wilcox. Next steps will see more widespread purchasing on mobiles, as well as use of NFC tickets. Currently, however, there are only limited examples of NFC ticketing usage outside of the Far East, owing to the lack of device availability.
Juniper interviewed leading mobile ticketing operators, application developers, consultants and vendors for the report, which includes a detailed, six -year market forecasting suite covering key market parameters.
Theres more information about the report here.