Manchester City goes mobile

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English Premiere League club Manchester City already boasts some impressive game-day technology, and the club is looking to expand on its technology through the use of mobile phones.

Currently, fans are able to enter the City of Manchester stadium through unmanned turnstiles with the use of RF-chipped smart cards. The system can admit up to 1,200 fans a minute, which means the 48,000-capacity stadium could be filled in 40 minutes.

The club’s newest idea would be to use mobile phones for the same type of smart card entry. Additionally, the club could communicate with the fans through text messages delivered as they pass though the turnstiles.

“The turnstiles are read/write,” explains the club’s Head of Retail, Duncan Martin. “So at the point where the turnstile opens to let the supporter in, it could also drop an electronic voucher on their phone, offering them a half-price drink or some other promotion. We can already send the same sort of information to the card, but the supporter has no way of seeing it. The mobile handset is the perfect device for this type of application.”

Martin said a pilot program would be launched this month, and, if successful, could be used on a larger scale next season.