MogoTix launches mobile-ticketing service

The service allows event attendees to receive their tickets via text messaging

For those of us with ridiculously busy schedules and a constant day-to-day rush, remembering specific dates and times for upcoming events can be tough.  I have personally forgotten many critically important events: my mother’s birthday, a final exam, a cross-country flight.  And sadly, no amount of crying ever seems to make anyone feel sorry enough for me to give me a complimentary flight, or a pass on a major birthday that I forgot.  

But staying on top of certain events has now gotten easier.

MogoTix announced Thursday the debut of its new mobile-ticketing service which will allow individuals to buy tickets to events and receive them via text message on their cell phones (thus saving them from the embarrassment and frustration of getting to an event and realizing they left their tickets at home), and receive reminders two hours before an event is scheduled to start.

The service is free for free events. For paid events, the service costs $0.99 per ticket plus 2.5% of the price of the ticket (but caps out at $9.95 per ticket).  By going on the website, event coordinators can set up an event, sell and distribute tickets, and can also download a free MogoTix iPhone app that will allow coordinators to scan ticket barcodes directly from attendees’ phones (an attendee does not need to own an iPhone to receive a ticket via text messaging).  The app also keeps a record of guests so that attendees who forget their phones (because they’re really forgetful) can be checked in manually.

Event coordinators can also monitor ticket sales from the website to keep track of how many tickets have sold, what capacity percentage has sold, net earnings, and how much time is left until the event.  At the start of the event, coordinators can also monitor how many purchased tickets have been scanned, thus allowing them to gauge an appropriate start time. 

San Francisco-based MogoTix, which raised $115,000 in seed funding, has been quietly testing the service since January on local tech events. The feedback has been positive, according to CEO Scott Thorpe, whom I spoke with on the phone.  Surprisingly, the feature that people liked the most was the reminder -- without which they would have forgotten the event or the start time altogether.  

Which reminded me of the flight I missed last spring because I forgot which day I was flying out on. Might MogoTix expand to include other ticketed services, like plane tickets, itineraries, train tickets, and other items?

Thorpe informed me that for now, the company is only focusing on events.  So for now, I’m stuck remembering my own flight details like a chump.  The good news is that in 2007, the International Air Transport Association announced plans to implement a mobile ticketing service by the end of 2010.

Other companies have also moved into the mobile-ticketing field.  Earlier this year, Fandango implemented a mobile ticketing service that sends the user a link to a barcode that can be scanned directly from one’s cell phone.

Another big hit at a recent tech event that utilized MogoTix’s mobile ticketing service was the live check-in board, which projects the names of new arrivals on the wall for all to see.  Thus, for guests looking to network and reconnect with past friends and contacts, they can see which of their friends and colleagues have arrived in real time. 

Image source: mogotix.com