Tulsa Drillers ticket scanning at the turnstyle.
While visiting our local minor league baseball park this past weekend, I noticed that mobile technology is becoming a part of the fan experience and club operations. It started at the Tulsa Drillers turnstyle, where Leslee greeted me with a handheld scanner which captured barcode information off of the ticket. She said the information they capture helps them create a better product for season ticket holders and other fans.
After stocking up on food and drinks a young lady approached me and asked if I would participate in a quick survey. She had a WiFi handheld device, asked a few questions about the wireless carrier I use and what attracts my family to the game. She was using ReFormXT software which allowed her to check a few boxes on the device as I responded, and that information was immediately fed to a database in the office.
Once seated, everyone around me was texting between innings. A friend of mine was using his iPhone to get stats on the visiting team’s pitcher. A group of young ladies were taking pictures and forwarding them to friends and posting them on their MySpace account. Almost everyone was connected. The only person who wasn’t using a handheld device was the umpire. At least I hope so.
The Smartphone market is one of the areas we closely watch as it serves as a bellweather for trends on how businesses are adopting mobility. Within this market is Nokia, RIM/Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile devices, HTC, Palm and others. What makes these devices ’smart’ as compared to a cell phone? In simple terms they have an operating system that allows applications to be downloaded, a wireless data connection and usually a keyboard that accomodates a lot of typing.
I was at a local convenience store today and noticed a delivery man standing with the store manager, looking at a little black box, about half the size of a desktop keyboard. All of the sudden, two pieces of paper pop out of it, the manager signs it as if he was closing the tab at a restaurant.