2009 was the year that mobile data finally started to matter for mainstream consumers. So, why did it take me 30 minutes to buy one cinema ticket using my phone’s browser yesterday?
Yes, despite resisting the hype thus far, I finally submitted and decided to book a ticket to catch Avatar in IMAX 3D. The problem was that I was away from home visiting family. Whipping out my laptop would be frowned upon as anti-social but spending five minutes fiddling with my phone to sort out the ticket would be okay.
If I had known that the process would take half an hour I might not have bothered.
An epic tale of frustration and pain
I started where most people probably would, Google. Typing in “Avatar 3D IMAX Manchester” I was instantly fed times for my local IMAX cinema’s screenings of the film. A good start, but unfortunately Google doesn’t give a direct link to buy a ticket for a screening. Instead, all you can do from here is click a link that shows all your chosen cinema’s showtimes complete with a phone number to call.
Yes, in 2009 – a phone number. Aren’t we supposed to be able to do everything quickly and easily via the mobile web? Why hasn’t Google done a deal with major cinema chains to be able to buy tickets via Google Checkout directly with one click? If that’s too much then surely a link to the cinema’s online ticket booking service wouldn’t be too much?
Instead it was back to searching. This time I searched for my chosen cinema directly. No problem there – I’m straight through to Odeon Manchester’s page. Brilliant!
The problem this time? Odeon doesn’t have a mobile-optimised site, in fact it has a Flash-powered site; not exactly mobile-friendly. Despite my HTC Hero (kind of) supporting Flash I opted to switch over the the HTML-only version of the ticket ordering process.
Odeon hasn’t optimised this for the mobile phones either, so I then spent a further fifteen minutes scrolling the screen left and right as I completed the seven-step process to buying a single £8.50 cinema ticket for a film I’m not even sure I’m going to like.
It doesn’t have to be this way
One of the great things about the mobile web is its ability to convert a spontaneous idea into a sale. I thought “Maybe I will see Avatar after all” and I should have been able to convert that into a booking within a couple of minutes. If I wasn’t a stubborn tech blogger curious to see just how long the process would take I’d have given up.
The iPhone app Fandango is reportedly great for booking cinema tickets but it only works in the USA. Elsewhere you’re stuck with simply viewing screening times. There are a handful of movie times apps in the UK iPhone app store and only one in the Android Market… and that’s only for Australian cinemas.
To concentrate on apps would be the wrong approach though; with a wide variety of phones at vast range of pricepoints all featuring a browser major cinema chains should be building mobile capable versions of their websites.
The prize so far goes to Cineworld, the only major UK chain to have easy and quick ticket booking on a mobile-optimised website. It’s simple, logical, quick and easy. You still have card details to fill in but it all takes place on one screen and within a couple of minutes you can pick a cinema, pick a film at a suitable time and book a ticket.
Other chains should take a leaf out of Cineworld’s book. Hopefully 2010 will see some real progress in turning our impulsive ideas into sales via a quick and easy mobile web.
Very good point. Part of the problem is about deciding what platform and standards to support though. WAP was supposed to help this, but that was a tech that under-delivered on the PR spin. There were some good examples of WAP sites enabling things like cinema times and even a secure layer for purchases, but it was also before its time in terms of users being aware of the possibilities presented by the Internet and using it on the move.
I know what you mean Anna, but in the post I talk about how 2009 was the year the mobile web took off. That hopefully sets the context! :)
Fair point re: Odeon’s booking service. Crapola.
I do want to add though that your headline is a little broad-brush :-)
I very much see your point and indeed entirely agree, but I must say – it always confounds me when people use phrases such as “it’s nearly 2010″ – what does this mean?! Unless we’re all basing our expectations of what each year brings on Back to the Future, it being nearly 2010 doesn’t mean that mobile web should be usable. 2010 isn’t an achievable mobile-web-friendly goal.
It’s a funny verbal tick of our times which is absolutely beyond me and has been ever since I said in a presentation that “it is 2005, we should be allowed to do..” (can’t remember the end bit!) – then thought, what does it being 2005 got to do with it?!
Hi, your web site here also has a very poor mobile experience, at least on my droid. :)
Hi James, thanks for the comment.
Yes, I could have called but:
a) It wasn’t convenient. Mobile sites should give us a quick and easy way of doing things like this.
b) From experience, Odeon’s automated booking line is irritating and its speech recognition isn’t great, making it frustrating.
c) As I mention in the post, Cineworld offers a quick and easy mobile service to book tickets, it’s just surprising that Odeon doesn’t offer the same facility when mobile-optimised sites have been around so long.
Hi John, good news – it’s back! Thanks for flagging that up.
With the utmost respect (and you know I mean that), your first paragraph states:
“…all you can do from here is click a link that shows all your chosen cinema’s showtimes complete with a phone number to call”
Um.. You could’ve just called?
Agreed the mobile WEB can be frustrating at times and yes, companies like Odeon etc should have mobile optimised websites, however – the *mobile* experience here caters for the lowest common denominator; Tickets? Here’s the number.
From your HTC you should’ve been able to one-click call, so why not do that?
Totally agree. But it’s not just cinemas. EVERY website should (and can easily) be optimised for mobile browsing. Comments about ‘deciding what platform and standards to support’ are irrelevant and ill-informed – the hard work to make moble internet browsing ‘platform independent’ has already been done by the likes of http://www.mobestar.com. All businesses need to recognise the increasing user demand for mobile content and improve the customer experience. It’s on my to-do list for January… :-)
The NextWeb’s site is not optimized at all for your mobile audience. It took too long to load this page on my iPhone, and the tiny links encouraged me to make a few UI mistakes. In fact, I had to bookmark the link to it so I could answer it from my desktop computer at a later time.
NextWeb *used* to have a mobile interface, but it disappeared several weeks ago. Please bring it back!
Well, almost, Martin. The main page, http://thenextweb.com isn’t mobile but standard. It doesn’t detect that I’m using an iPhone.
But I figured out a workaround: http://thenextweb.com/page/1/ DOES take me directly to a mobile UI. Snappy performace and simpler UI.
Try opera mini. It amazes me more people dont