Major League Baseball testing Passbook as virtual replacement to physical tickets

Posted: 19 Sep 2012, 23:59, by Alan F.

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Major League Baseball testing Passbook as virtual replacement to physical tickets

A Passbook ticket to a San Francisco Giants game

With the release of iOS 6 on Wednesday, the Passbook application coulod change things forever for Major League Baseball. Four teams are undergoing a test where an Apple iPhone, with a special barcode on the screen courtesy of Passbook, replaces a physical ticket. The process will be tested over the remainder of the season by four teams, the New York Mets, the San Francisco Giants, the Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals. If MLB likes what it sees, it could be the beginning of the end for physical tickets. On the bright side, fans might end up being treated to more realistic attendance figures.

MLB officials were present f or the introduction of the Apple iPhone last week, along with officials from Starbucks and Sephora. All three will be supporting Passbook. The application uses bar code technology to store virtual boarding passes for air travel, tickets to events, and can even let you use virtual coupons to save money. It allows the entire process of purchasing a ticket to a movie or sporting event to be handled seamlessly online from the transaction, to the recipt of the ticket, to being allowed entry and it's done all without one scrap of paper.

source: AllThingsD

19 Comments

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posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:18

1. mas11 (Posts: 1034; Member since: 30 Mar 2012)

Isn't the idea of using a barcode for this kinda outdated? I mean you print out your tickets and they can scan the barcode on the paper. How about NFC?

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:20

3. Mxyzptlk (unregistered)

Read the article. Nothing's being printed. It's all digital.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:23

5. mas11 (Posts: 1034; Member since: 30 Mar 2012)

I'm NOT saying they are using paper, I'm saying it has been done before using paper.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:29

8. Mxyzptlk (unregistered)

And I'm saying it's not entirely the same to where it's outdated.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:36

10. mas11 (Posts: 1034; Member since: 30 Mar 2012)

I could do that on my phone by opening my email, pulling up the printable ticket and zooming in on the barcode, not really a new concept.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 09:14

17. Mxyzptlk (unregistered)

Good for you. Would you like a cookie or something?

Maybe you should actually read what Passbook does so you'll know what you're talking about when commenting on it.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 09:16

18. mas11 (Posts: 1034; Member since: 30 Mar 2012)

All it does is put your tickets into one place, not hard to do. And give me my damn cookie!

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:24

6. Lucas777 (Posts: 2137; Member since: 06 Jan 2011)

I agree NFC seems better, but what advantage does it offer as far as mobile payments go over having a barcode? NFC drains battery and takes up space, while the barcode is just a quick thing… Additionally, the entire infrastructure is already built for barcodes while NFC has not been widely adopted-- it's getting there, but its not nearly as ubiquitous as card readers or barcode scanners

NFC offers more benefits with peer-to-peer sharing rather than mobile payment solutions… the infrastructure needs to be built for it first

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 06:19

13. Hemlocke (unregistered)

That's the big problem. Barcode scanners are ubiquitous, and NFC kiosks are in their infancy. Why bother until the technology is more widely adopted? We all laugh at goofballs on the internet who post "First!," but then we give technology companies a pass for doing the same thing when it is an empty gesture.

posted on 07 Oct 2012, 00:55

19. teeker (Posts: 1; Member since: 07 Oct 2012)

There are lost of Bar code scanners. Can they support bar code of passbook? I think some of bar code scanners need to be replaced.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:19

2. Mxyzptlk (unregistered)

Wow it's only been out for a day and there's already talks of adapting the new iOS features. Innovation at its finest.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:28

7. E.N. (Posts: 2610; Member since: 25 Jan 2009)

Yeah not surprised. When NFC releases and all the stores start supporting and everyone is using the feature, Android users will say....well it doesn't matter, we had it first

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:30

9. Mxyzptlk (unregistered)

Unfortunately it's the truth.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 06:20

14. Hemlocke (unregistered)

It may not happen soon. There are security concerns, plus you have to find a way for retail businesses to use it besides as a payment kiosk. Why replace the barcode scanner when it does inventory and payments?

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:22 1

4. tq3866 (Posts: 25; Member since: 20 Jan 2011)

could*

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 00:52

11. Whateverman (Posts: 3284; Member since: 17 May 2009)

Not that I'm a baseball fan but what about other platforms? What apps will be used for other OSs? And what about feature phones...not that there are many out there anymore, but they do exist.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 06:24 1

15. Hemlocke (unregistered)

I expect you will see Android adopt a similar system. NFC isn't big this year, nor will it even be big next year. It MIGHT get big if retailers could figure out other uses for it besides payments, or if the cost of the PayPass/NFC kiosk is cheap enough, but I just can't imagine it becoming "the next big thing" without meeting one of those two.

posted on 20 Sep 2012, 01:59

12. RyFry (Posts: 6; Member since: 16 Sep 2012)

For our NHL team that is currently locked out we have one card that we keep scanning over and over for each game. This would be cool if more sports team offered this. You can already do it at movie theaters