14 DAY TRIAL // A movie theater in Detroit, America has begun running tests of a payment method that allows customers to purchase tickets from their cellphones and actually present an on-screen barcode to the ticket collector. The Emagine Entertainment theater is the first US theater to implement pay-by-cell technology from Mobile Box Office.
Users only need to pay a $1 fee for using the service and an Internet-enabled phone with a color screen, as well as a charge card. After buying a ticket, the customer receives a text message with a link to a site that supplies a bar code. Emagine has provided scanners to the ticket takers, that will be able to read the barcode off of the phone's screen and grant access to the theater. Some experts say the cell phone ticketing method will be a real success only if it is significantly easier than buying a ticket at the theater or online using a computer.
"The key is to create enough of an advantage relative to the hassle of learning to navigate the system and typing all of the information into a cell phone keyboard," said Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason, a professor of economics and computer science at the University of Michigan.