Ticketmaster Online–CitySearch
said it plans to
launch a mobile service on Friday called “Local Intelligence” in 32 cities,
covering events at more than 3,750 venues nationwide.
Local Intelligence will give mobile users access to a mix of local content,
ticketing and reservations anytime, anywhere, on personal digital assistants,
phones, pagers and voice portals, the company said.
It combines editorial recommendations with the ability to conduct a
transaction, such as a ticket purchase or restaurant reservation from a
mobile device. Users will be able to search for, select and purchase tickets
for a variety of live events, including concerts, theater, family
entertainment and sports from ticketmaster.com while on the go.
“Making the most of consumers’ time is the promise of mobile devices,” said
Paul LaFontaine, vice president of TMCS Mobile.
“Local Intelligence marries
dependable, trusted content with instant access to local event tickets or
reservations and empowers consumers to find and plan what they want to do in
their city or wherever they are.”
By the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2000, Local Intelligence will allow
TMCS users to create online profiles at citysearch.com, ticketmaster.com and
match.com and deliver information and ticketing opportunities via their
personal wireless devices.
Ultimately, Local Intelligence, will allow a
Lakers’ fan to be paged when the team’s playoff tickets go on sale or a
match.com user to be notified on their cell phone with new romantic “matches.”
In an effort to support an open environment for deploying content and
transactions on mobile devices, TMCS said it has formed a Mobile Alliance
Partner Program designed to allow members to share resources for building,
marketing and deploying products and services for mobile devices. Initial
partners include AvantGo, Ericsson, NeoPoint, Nokia, OmniSky, Palm Computing,
Phone.com and VoiceStream.