Revenues from mobile ticketing applications will help turn the global mobile commerce market into an $88bn industry by 2009, according to a new report from Juniper Research.
Digital goods such as mobile entertainment (ringtones, games, wallpaper, gambling and so on) will continue to be the largest application for buying and selling via the mobile phone but ticket purchases will also emerge as a major application area by 2007 with revenues totalling $39bn by 2009.
The report reveals that train and bus travel, cinemas and theatres, as well as car parking, will be key ticketing application areas. Mobile users have already started to show interest in ticketing particularly in Europe and Japan.
The report also reveals that:
•Mobile entertainment transactions will be worth $48bn by 2009.
•Retail Point of Sale (POS) mobile transactions will be slow and be worth only $299m by 2009.
•RFID and Infra Red technologies are likely to have major influence on future developments of mobile as a payment device.
•The development of global standards will continue to be slow due to too many industry bodies concentrating on vested interests.
Report author Marc Ambasna-Jones said: “Mobile ticketing has the potential to be a huge application. The very nature of buying and selling tickets is high volume and low cost. This will make it easier for consumers to try it at least once because it is low risk. The aim is to make it more convenient than cash and there is willing among operators and merchants to make it happen but it will take time.”
“Globally the m-commerce market will be fragmented mainly drawn up by continental boundaries. Each region is developing at a different pace and with different technologies in mind. There is no one global standard but this will both help and hinder m-commerce. A focus on local needs will probably help the technology develop more quickly but eventually we will be faced with a roaming problem between regions.”