Masabi provides iPhone experience on Nokia 6300

Rating:Train ticketing app for ancient handsets

Here’s a company which has recognised that millions of Britons are being left out of the mobile data revolution because their handset is an ordinary phone not the latest all-singing, all dancing smartphone. Mobile ticketing expert, Masabi, has just announced that it has extended the reach of its ticketing app to owners of boring mobile phones including entry level phones from the likes of Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG and Samsung. Basically, all you need to have is a mobile phone with access to the Internet correctly installed. To test the theory, try texting the word ‘TRAIN’ to the shortcode – 86688.The app – which has been developed for thetrainline.com - has been described by Ben Whitaker, Masabi’s CEO, as ‘democracising apps’. It will even work on that classic Nokia handset – the 6300.

The app enables users to view train timetables and then purchase a ticket.

As Whitaker told GoMo News, the pain threshold is normally so high with purchasing a train ticket that ordinary people are willing to give it a go.

Not only will Thetrainline’s app probably be the first app that many of these users have ever used, it will also almost certainly be the first time they’ve ever participating in mobile commerce.

“It’s like suddenly having an iPhone experience on an ancient handset,” Whitaker claimed. He also reckons that in trials, once people have seen it working they encourage their peers to try it for themselves.

Masabi says that the ability to display secure barcodes on the receiving handset’s screen will be rolled out over the next few months.

GoMo News discovered that this has nothing to do with a handset’s capabilities. The barcode display facility is latent in the rolled out apps.

What it is, however, is a logistical problem. The railway companies need to train their staff in the way of how ticket machines can accept barcode tickets displayed on a handset’s screen.

Whitaker claims that the ticket machines which his company has helped to develop are capable of recognising a barcode ticket in 0.25 seconds. Faster than rival methods.

Ben Whitaker also solved a puzzle which has always baffled GoMo News. Why has Masabi standardised on Aztec barcodes when QR codes seem to rule the roost?

The answer is that rival barcode technologies need a ‘quiet zone’ (basically white space surrounding the code itself).

By contrast, Aztec barcodes don’t have this requirement and can be blown up to fill the handset’s entire screen.

“We tested all of the [barcode] technologies and found that Aztec codes were best for our purposes,” Whitaker explained.

“By contrast, if you want to print out a barcode and then recognise it via a scanner, then QR codes are the best.”

Now we know why airlines use Aztec not QR codes as well as train companies!