MobileWebsiteWatch

While m-commerce continues to grow in many areas, tickets is probably the fastest moving and the easiest

for people to grasp and adopt. In the USA, tickets for movies, travel and performances are more and more commonplace on mobile. On Nov 12th, Tickets.com made a major step that gives it a serious competitive edge over even big competitors like Ticketmaster by offering it new service, ProVenueMobile.

ProVenueMobile is really the mobile version of tickets.com regular site. It is the 1st full complete mobile web commerce solution of its kind, that allows the user to fully complete the ticket purchase transaction from the mobile web, and does not require any click-to-call or telephone use. This is not only a major convenience and time saver for the user, but also a big cost saver for tickets.com, relieveing the need for 24/7 phone sales staff. Tickets.com notes to the press:

“We are excited about this technology, and view it as a major breakthrough for our company and for our clients,” said Larry Witherspoon, CEO, Tickets.com. “Staying ahead of the curve through industry-leading innovation, as well as delivering unparalleled customer support, is our chief mission. Offering this versatile and convenient mobile platform gives Tickets.com the opportunity to reach new milestones in both areas. We are delighted to be able to introduce a green, paperless technology into the marketplace. In early 2009 we look forward to offering website mobilization services to our clients.”

By extending the functionality and services of Tickets.com — including full e-commerce — to the mobile web platform http://mobile.tickets.com, full- circle ticket purchases can be made 24/7 on any handheld mobile device. Missing an on-sale time, waiting in line and being put on hold will be things of the past. The Usablenet Mobile-supported site integrates seamlessly with all web-enabled devices from smart phones (Blackberry, iPhone, Treo, etc.) to basic cell phones with web access. It supports all browsers, file formats, carriers and other technologies, so that Tickets.com customers can shop for and purchase tickets from anywhere, anytime.

The ticketing boom is not only limited to concert and movie tickets. Most major airlines now not only offer full mobile sites, but are extending mobile boarding pass functionality to thier passengers. This technology, being implemented at airlines like American Airlines and Northwest Airlines allows mobile users to use their phone as their boarding pass without any special software or hardware and regardless of what carrier they are using.

With mobile on the rise to buy more and more things, any company not allowing its customers to access them on the device they have on them at all times and look at the most for both personal and business purposes is outright loosing ground.

Below is a great article from Geek.com. Feature writer Brian Osborne took upon himself the challenge of taking a trip using only his trusty Blackberry 8330 Curve to make ALL travel arrangements.

Challenge
Fly to Dallas by booking my airline ticket, checking in for my flight, reserving my hotel room, and checking-in for my hotel room using only my BlackBerry 8330 Curve by Verizon Wireless.

Participants
Volunteering themselves as guinea pigs were American Airlines and Omni Hotels. Thanks to Brian Conway for helping to set this up.

Task 1: Find and book an American Airlines Flight using BlackBerry
Time: Under 5 minutes

I went to AA.com and was happy to see the website was actually setup to be used for a mobile device. I especially liked how options were split into sections including Day of Travel and Reservations. It made it really easy to find what I needed.

I searched for flights by clicking on Change Flights under the Reservations section. After inputting my departure airport, destination and travel dates, it quickly brought up my options. One nice feature was that I could even view the seats that were available on each flight. If the flight was nose-to-nose with passengers I then had the option to choose another flight.

After finding my flight I inputted my credit card information and soon received a confirmation via email confirming my flight was booked. Overall, performance of the website was very good. The only sense of information overload I had on the small BlackBerry screen was when I was browsing flights, but there is only so much the American Airlines folks can do.

Task 2: Reserve A Room With Omni Hotels
Time: Under 5 minutes

Much like the American Airlines website, I was happy to see that the Omni Hotels mobile website didn’t have a lot of fluff and got right to the options the typical traveler would need to quickly find a hotel, get a room, and get it reserved. After clicking on Make A Reservation I was able to find a local hotel and saw that luckily there was a room available.

I was able to quickly reserve the room and also later got an email confirming the reservation. I wanted to keep this email confirmation handy for when I did my check-in online as well.

Task 3: Check-In For American Airlines Flight
Time: Under 3 minutes

24 hours before my flight I just about went to my PC to get my boarding pass when I remembered that for this trip I was performing all tasks on the Blackberry. So I grabbed it and quickly got on the AA.com website to check-in for my flight. I looked at moving seats, but unfortunately it was a full flight.

Reluctantly, I went ahead and completed my check-in. Naturally, I was a little concerned that I didn’t have a piece of paper in front of me confirming my check-in, but when I went to the airport I simply printed out my passes at the American Airlines kiosk in less than a minute.

By checking-in online I saved a lot of time in front of the kiosk even if I ended up having to print my boarding pass. Hopefully one day I’ll just be able to show the electronic boarding pass on my phone.

Before completing the booking process I was also able to sign-up for a mobile alert which would send me flight status and gate information two hours before my flight’s departure. There’s nothing better than being on your way to the airport, knowing what gate your flight is at and appreciating the fact that it is still on time.

Task 4: Check-In For Omni Hotels Room
Time: Under 3 minutes

So what’s the advantage of checking in for your hotel through your mobile phone? Well, the beautiful thing is that you won’t have to worry about your room being given to someone else. Also, when you get to the hotel the key will be waiting for you since you’ve already given the hotel all of your personal information.

When you have been on a plane for over two hours, trust me when I say that the sooner you get to your room the better. Sure enough, when I got to the hotel the room keys were waiting for me.

Summary
It’s amazing to think we have reached the point at which we no longer need to sit in front of a computer to make travel arrangements. That’s got to be some pretty sobering news for travel agents since it empowers people to book an itinerary on their own. Naturally I don’t expect Ma or Pa who travels once a year to use their mobile phone to book reservations, but you can bet the business traveler will appreciate it and that’s exactly why American Airlines and Omni Hotels have made the investment to support the mobile traveler.

Absolutely terriffic footwork, Brian! Thanks a million!

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Delta will announce on Tuesday that it will provide in-flight wi-fi to passengers. They took a large survey and found that, passengers “overwhelmingly preferred” internet access to other in-flight services and that the widespread use of web enabled mobile devices was also a major factor in this trend:

Airlines have debated for years over what new technology to install in planes — whether customers want satellite-television broadcasts, better movies and entertainment, wireless Internet connections or cellphone service. The winner appears to be Internet hot spots. One factor swaying the debate: the proliferation of hand-held Internet devices, such as smartphones and iPods. Other carriers are studying Internet access.

Travelers are already proven to be big users of mobile devices and this will only add to the amount of time people spend surfing the web on their mobile devices. Many travelers look to their mobile device for web access instead of the laptop as laptops are much more cumbersome and require many accessories to travel with.

Here is a really great article from NewsFactor that addresses the misconception that is all too common that mobile web optimization will be made unnecessary by advances in phones’ browsers. Since Apple’s commercial that advertised “the whole Internet in your pocket”, ALL of the sites they demonstrated (NY Times, JetBlue..etc) now have optimized iPhone interfaces if not full blown mobile websites.

By John Markoff - July 15, 2008 7:27AM

In a look at the custom interfaces for each iPhone-aware Web site, it’s obvious that reading a Facebook newsfeed or looking up the value of a friend’s home on Zillow doesn’t require a 20-inch computer display. It may also make more sense to keep the grocery list, play a game or read an online newspaper while mobile.

When Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPhone 18 months ago, he contended that viewing the Web on it was comparable to browsing on a desktop personal computer.

As it turns out, Jobs may well have understated the quality of the iPhone Web experience. Visiting Web sites that have been redesigned for the iPhone is often a quicker and more pleasing experience than it is on those increasingly cinema-style desktop displays.

It seems counterintuitive, but small really is beautiful.
…continue reading iPhone Proves that Bigger Isn’t Always Better

A U.S. House of Representatives committee advanced a bill to prohibit passengers from making mobile phone calls during flights.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed Thursday the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (Hang Up) Act, which would ban voice communication during scheduled flights. The Hang Up Act now moves to the full House of Representatives.

The Federal Aviation Administration already bans cell phone calls during flights, and the Hang Up Act would make that ban permanent. The ban would have certain exemptions for members of the flight crew as well as law enforcement officers.Additionally, passengers would still be able to access in-flight Wi-Fi, as well as send text messages and e-mails as those services become available.