Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Software : Chiltern Railways launches paperless mobile train tickets

Software : Chiltern Railways launches paperless mobile train tickets

Chiltern Railways launches paperless mobile train tickets

Posted: 11 May 2011 07:25 AM PDT

Chiltern Railways has launched a fully mobile train ticketing app, which allows your mobile phone to act as your train ticket, even if your handset isn't exactly at the cutting edge of smartphone technology.

Although the idea of mobile ticketing isn't exactly new to the world, Chiltern's new app will allow you to buy tickets on your handset, then use it as your ticket on the train or at station barriers in the UK.

Rather than having to print any tickets, the app provides a QR code on your device's screen which you can then scan at the gate.

This means no more frustrating queuing for the ticket machine as you watch your train slowly pull away.

Android on its way

Chiltern has invested in some snazzy new barriers to facilitate the m-ticketing (below), which can be used on iOS devices, BlackBerry handsets, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung java-based handsets with colour screens. An Android version is also in the works.

Chiltern m-ticketing barrier

Sadly, it's a fairly limited tool; only Chiltern Railways will accept m-tickets, and the line only runs between London Marylebone and the Midlands, so if you're in the North, it's not much good to you at present.

In terms of security, your card details won't be stored on your mobile; rather, some of the details will be encrypted and stored on external servers, but will require you to input your card's three-digit security code in order to buy anything.

It's an interesting approach to have taken with NFC on the cusp of taking off and we do wonder if Marylebone faces more upheaval as NFC readers are installed at barriers some time soon - if the Oyster card readers are incompatible with the eventual technology.

But Chiltern's app does mean that people with older, NFC-less handsets can enjoy the convenience of mobile ticketing as well as those with all-singing all-dancing smartphones.

iFlowReader ebook seller folds, says 'Apple killed us'

Posted: 11 May 2011 02:20 AM PDT

iFlowReader, an ebook app, has been forced to close, saying that Apple's fee structure for ebook sellers killed the app by causing the company to operate at a loss.

This is the first major app casualty of the new fee model that Apple introduced earlier this year.

In a statement on its website, the company writes, "Apple has made it completely impossible for anyone but Apple to make a profit selling contemporary ebooks on any iOS device."

Just buy a real book

"We cannot survive selling books at a loss and so we are forced to go out of business. We bet everything on Apple and iOS and then Apple killed us by changing the rules in the middle of the game," the statement continues.

"We are a small company that thought we could build a better product. We think that we did but we are powerless against Apple's absolute control of the iOS platform."

Apple sells books through its own iBooks app, too – but it does so through the so-called 'agency model', which sees major publishers become the book sellers direct while Apple takes a healthy commission (again, 30 per cent) on all sales.

But independent sellers also have to pay the publishers 30 per cent commission on each book sold, as well as paying Apple. So the bookseller is now taking only 40 per cent of the sale price, which, as iFlowReader puts it, "is all of our gross margin and then some."

Flourish and Blotts

All this is compounded by the fact that all booksellers must sell each book at the exact price set by the publisher; so if Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stoneis sold at £8.99 by the publisher, that's the price every other bookseller must adhere to (except, of course, you can't buy a Harry Potter ebook at present).

As a result, the makers of iFlowReader are out over a million dollars and eighteen months' hard work

"We had extensive plans to make [iFlowReader] even better. We looked to the future of ebooks for inspiration while Apple and others were looking at the printed books of the past."

In a passionate conclusion, the company adds, "We put our faith in Apple and they screwed us… Apple can change the rules at any time and they did… We never really had a chance."

iFlowReader users can save their existing eBooks by following the instructions on the website before 31 May.
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