Manchester City Trials NFC Technology
By Christopher Nickson
October 24, 2007
English Premier League club is trying near field communications that lets people use their mobiles phones for match entry.
Imagine being able to wave your mobile phone and gain entry to a sporting event or concert. For a few season ticket holders of English Premier League soccer club Manchester City, that’s already reality.
The club has partnered with Orange to trial near field communications (NFC) technology, meaning users will be able to use their mobiles the way people use smartcards.
The club’s ground was fitted for NFC four years ago. So far 20 Sony Ericsson handsets featuring NFC-enabled SIM cardshave been given to season ticket holders, but it’s expected that the service will be full operational by 2009.
According to a report on ITPro, Duncan Martin, head of retail for Manchester City, said,
"Mobile contactless services will offer many advantages to our fans, including loyalty schemes and discount vouchers. NFC technology also allows us to build a closer affinity with fans and offer them more than just football. By linking this technology to our customer database, we will use this valuable trial data to analyze customer demand, create more targeted campaigns for our most loyal fans and tackle wider issues such as ticket touting and crowd security. The net result will be a much richer matchday experience for our fans."
This is the first NFC trial in the UK, but successful ones have already been conducted in several locations in France.