http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/10/04/21/bears.similiarities.to.concert.ticket./
Apple’s interest in ticketing may go well beyond music, a newly-published patent application suggests. The USPTO recently disclosed Apple’s ideas on Concert Ticket +, an iPhone app which would form the heart of an event ticketing system linked to iTunes, kiosks and physical passes. The new filing revolves around another proposed app, called iTravel, which would serve a similar purpose for boat, bus, train and airline trips.
Users would not only be able to make reservations, but share the information with others, and accomplish related tasks like check-in, baggage claim and car rentals. The app could also become a form of ID, working in tandem with a local server or web service to access photos, retinal scans and/or fingerprints. An iPhone’s camera could be used to scan and import ticket data from documents.
Full implementation of Apple’s concept would be dependent on near-field communications (NFC) technology, allowing a handheld to interact directly with a kiosk, baggage system, boarding gate or even security checkpoint. This could suggest the addition of an RFID receiver to future iPhones, particularly as the patent describes possible paper tickets with embedded RFID tags. Some form of NFC could be used to exchange information with a personal computer like an iMac, which might have its own travel software.
