Bags Your Seat at the Movies with Vodafone Live!

Media Release - 19 October 2005

Bags Your Seat at the Movies with Vodafone Live!

Vodafone today announced a customer trial that marks a New Zealand mobile industry first – booking movie tickets from your mobile.

This unique new service, available only on Vodafone live!, is an evolution towards using the mobile for all your entertainment and information needs.

Customers have been able to view session times, read movie reviews, engage in a chat room and if they have a 3G handset, watch movie trailers through Vodafone live! for some time. Vodafone is taking this one step further as this innovative service lets all Vodafone Live! customers reserve tickets for Village Cinemas using their mobile.

The movie ticket service is the fourth m-Commerce service launched recently by Vodafone. These include TXT-a-Park, where customers pay for parking with their mobile, mTicket, where customers can buy tickets to dance parties using txt, and HotLink where customers can top up their Prepay balance or pay their Vodafone account directly from their bank account.

Head of Mobile Commerce, Hamish Sansom, believes that the movie ticket reservation service is another step towards using your mobile every day for commercial transactions and payments. “The success of mTicket, TXT-a-Park, and HotLink shows that customers are lapping up more convenient methods of ordering and paying for services with their mobile and Vodafone is pleased to be offering these exciting new services,” he says.

“Mobile customers want to make on the spot decisions about how they are entertained. Vodafone live! becomes a one stop shop for movie goers. They can check out listings and trailers and now reserve their tickets over their Vodafone mobile.”

Unlike other movie ticket services available, the Vodafone/Village option allows customers to turn up just a few minutes before the movie starts. During the trial the service will be free of charge until the end of October after which time a non-refundable service fee applies when full payment for tickets is made at the cinema. Vodafone will then assess customer feedback on pricing options before launching commercially in November.

Vodafone developed the mobile reservation system in conjunction with Vista Entertainment Solutions, a local New Zealand company who are world leaders in Cinema management/ticketing software. Vista’s global reach extends to 22 countries in which they service over 400 cinemas worldwide.

ENDS

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