bCode launches movie ticketing in Australia - no barcodes!

Link: Technology: Mobile Film Ticketing Launched Down Under – The Post Chronicle.

Mobile ticketing solutions provider bCODE announced Monday the launch of its service for Manly Cinemas in Sydney, Australia.

Right, sit down, take a deep breath before continuing.

They’re not doing mobile ticketing with barcodes or RFID.

Instead the ticket is sent by a normal SMS, which, of course, can be received by any mobile handset.

In fact the receiver looks like this:

Gorgeous, eh?  That’d be really cool to see sat in your local cinema.

So, here’s what you do — you buy your movie ticket and then you’re sent a ticket by SMS that looks like this (to the left).

This weird arrangement of text is then read by the bCode reader thus:

The bCODE Reader is a patent-pending state-of-the-art ticket scanning device that could read your bCODE Mobile Ticket from the face of your mobile phone. Provided the bCODE ticket is visible to you, the Reader will be able to electronically read, decode and authenticate the ticket. It is also customisable into different colours, shapes and sizes to suit the various needs of venues and events.

And if there’s ever an issue, I imagine it can easily be typed in.

I like the ubiquity.  It’ll work on almost anything!

Check out www.bcode.com for the gossip.