Trial no Error

Thank goodness for O2. While some mobile networks seem to have gone backwards in recent years, O2, thanks to some astute marketing and consistent branding, looks nothing like the crusty old behemoth it once was. Today’s announcement of a 6-month NFC (Near Field Communications) trial in London shows that the company has substance, as well as style.
I’ve been travelling up to London quite a bit recently and often find myself alighting at Goodge St. Underground station, where there are no escalators, just lifts – or the staircase, if you’re feeling brave. As I stand in the lift listening to the fizz and crackle of other people’s iPods, watching the other passengers rummage in bags and pockets for their ticket or Oyster card, while doing the same myself, it has occurred to me more than once that putting the ticket on the phone would make perfect sense. Now, it seems, O2, working with Nokia, Transport for London, and a range of other partners, is trying to make it happen. Given the music capabilities of many modern handsets, it may not be long before all you need to get round London on public transport, complete with musical accompaniment, is your phone.
The reason I’m so excited about this is not simply that it makes it a bit easier to get around town and gives you one less thing to misplace. It’s the reach of a campaign like this that I like.
People involved in the mobile business quite naturally get excited about some of the mobile applications and services out there. Meanwhile, the vast majority of people use their phone to talk and text, and wouldn’t know a mobile ticket if it slapped them in the keypad. But an application like a mobile Oyster card, that could potentially be used by millions of people travelling around London every day, puts the intelligent application of mobile technology in front of a huge audience, and can only help to advance the cause of everyone involved in mobile marketing, ticketing, commerce, whatever.   
Here’s hoping the trial is a success, and that the sight of Londoners waving their phone over the Oyster card reader to gain access to tube stations is soon a familiar site.

David Murphy
Editor