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.
Recently I decided to make it a point to schedule a few lunch appointments each month with various Small and Medium Business owners to talk about mobile technology. Some of them are people I know well, and some are folks I have just been introduced to. The approach is the same in all cases. We sit down for lunch and talk about their business, how they use mobile technology, how they locate technology, how they acquire it, and what additional mobile solutions they would like to get their hands on. These are business discussions, not technology discussions. 
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.