New Cinema Ticketing System

quazzy

Hi all,

Just read this article from rte.ie and I thought I'd share it. Its seems like a great idea & will cut down the queue times for all cinema goers - HOPEFULLY.

FROM:
http://www.rte.ie/arts/2006/0803/fonaticket.html

03 August 2006
New cinema ticket system launched in Dublin
A new paperless ticketing system, which allows cinemagoers use their mobile phone in place of a ticket, has been launched in Dublin.

Created by recent Dublin City University graduates Donal Foley and Louise Kirke, Fonaticket was debuted at a special screening of 'Miami Vice' at UCI Tallaght on Tuesday night.

Cinemagoers logged onto the fonaticket.com website, entered their mobile phone number and then received a special text message containing a unique bar code, which was then scanned upon their arrival at the cinema.

The creators of Fonaticket say that the system will eliminate queues, lost tickets and benefit the environment.

They plan to promote the system again with another special screening at UCI in Coolock in the coming weeks.

Saruman

"Sorry sir.... give me a sec till i find that text message... no not that one... ah here it is (2 mins and 30 text messages later)."

You know these people will be in every Q.... Good idea though.

quazzy

Yeah.... I forgot about the Muppet factor

Still think its a winner though

abetarrush

Its like the self-service tils at tesco


wha if ur battery runs out? i guess ur fvcked!

J.R.HARTLEY

abetarrush wrote:

Its like the self-service tils at tesco


wha if ur battery runs out? i guess ur fvcked!

good point but i guess most people charge their phone up after booking to be sure

BlitzKrieg

they said online booking and telephone booking will kill queues...


In honesty i will prob never use this.

A) buying tickets via phone or net usually curtail some extra charge, that and they require a credit card or similar (i try to avoid using mine at all but necessary points)

my logic for cinema is usually an impulse, oh i wanna see that, buy ticket on spot. I know i have friends who arrange cinema trips like expeditions, all the tickets bought online before we leave the house etc, but i dont.

abetarrush

Sure whats their deal, cinema Queues are never THAT big

about 40 people max, on a very busy night


Why dont they work on reducin other Queues


And they hafta scan your phone, which has a Picture-barcode. wha if you cant receive MMS, or your fones screen is sh!t?

They didnt think this through! I should be president

d@rk l0rd

abetarrush wrote:

Sure whats their deal, cinema Queues are never THAT big

about 40 people max, on a very busy night


Why dont they work on reducin other Queues


And they hafta scan your phone, which has a Picture-barcode. wha if you cant receive MMS, or your fones screen is sh!t?


They didnt think this through! I should be president

Both irrelevant points as it's you don't need MMS (it's SMS based) and even a sh!t fone screen can be processed rather easily.

LundiMardi

abetarrush wrote:

Why dont they work on reducin other Queues

Indeed, i don't think i've ever queued more than 5 minutes for the cinema, and if i were going on a busy night, i'd prebook online and use those credit card machine things(which i've never even had to use yet).

They need to cut queues for food and drink moreso than for tickets.

lostexpectation

how does really improve on online/phone booking with credit card

quazzy

lostexpectation wrote:

how does really improve on online/phone booking with credit card

From my own experience booking with a credit card is usually handier than queueing at the till itself. But there are times - weekends with big releases for example - when there are rather large queues of ppl on the credit card jobbies and of course most of them are not working properly and the ones that are working are held up big ppl who are swipping the cc the wrong way or trying to use a library card....

So I do feel there is a place for this technology... and I would definitely use it.

Q

roomurray

This has all been done before and by organisations significantly more long in the tooth that a couple of students doing their masters degrees. Yes it is the future of ticketing but I gather that its not as easy as these guys seem to be suggesting. I also gather there are some major international patents out there so these guys are likely to get shat on from a very big height. Why Doug Richard would ever want to be associated with them good knows.