Bcode’s scanning technology for mobile phones is powering Golden Village’s mobile ticketing service in the Asia-Pacific region. Movie goers can buy tickets online via their PCs or mobile phones and instantly receive a Bcode Mobile Ticket as a text message that will be scanned for admission.

“Bcode is essentially a bar code without bars,” said Michael Mak, CEO of  Bcode, San Francisco. “It works just like a bar code and gets scanned like a bar code except Bcode’s patented scanning algorithms allow the bar code to be sent as a plain text SMS message.

“This means that it will work without needing picture messaging or WAP links, and thus it is instantly compatible with over four billion existing mobile phones on the planet without requiring data-plans or smartphone browsers,” he said. “1D or 2D bar codes on mobile phones only work between 25 percent to 50 percent of the time depending on which country and Bcode works over 99.7 percent of the time.”

Bcode is a mobile scanning technology provider for mobile coupons, ticketing, payment and affinity platforms.

Customers include Sprint, Nextel, Screenvision, IKEA, Harrah’s, O2, Ford, MasterCard, Adidas, Virgin Mobile, Carl’s Jr., CeBIT, Singapore Airshow, Commonwealth Games, as well as developer partners across 20 nations.

The golden ticket
Golden Village Cinemas of Australia is a joint venture between Golden Harvest Cinemas of Hong Kong and is one of the largest movie theater chains in the Asia-Pacific region.

Bcode’s mobile phone scanning device has a user-friendly touch screen that does not require any changes to mobile phone plans or to download or install any software for the program to work.

“For Golden Village Cinemas, it’s a great service to offer to its patrons, reduced cost from avoiding printing/processing paper tickets, faster admission flow due to a simpler and shorter process, reduced fraud from fraudulent or re-used paper tickets, and with its brand seen to be proactive in taking on green initiatives,” Mr. Mak said.

In an addition to an admissions tool, Bcode MediaPlane reads the Bcode SMS and provides digital content and offers entertainment.

Consumers receive Bcode SMS tickets and coupon incentives on their mobile phones that they can redeem at a Bcode MediaPlane, which is an interactive touch screen scanning device.

“I think the growth of bar codes had been inhibited by technology issues (bar codes on phones only work reliably on smartphones), which is why I founded and invented Bcode to solve that exact problem,” Mr. Mack said. “In a real-world environment, having something not work at least 99 percent of the time will prove problematic.

“Imagine one out of two patrons cannot scan his/her phone, which is the case for bar codes on phones, and as a result he/she needs to go back to the box office to complain? It’s not workable,” he said. “This is the reason why Golden Village Cinemas chose Bcode with its commercial deployment.”