Masabi » Trainline

Life of Android App of the Week: Trainline Tickets

edhowson — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:50:08 +0000

Our app for thetrainline.com is App of the Week on Life of Android. Life of Android is a site dedicated to news and reviews of Android apps. The App of the Week section also includes an excellent video review:

Masabi Wins Software Innovation Category at Digital Entrepreneur Awards

Will — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:09:30 +0000

London, UK – 6^th December 2010 – Masabi, the developer of mobile ticketing technology for the transport sector, joined London restaurant group Pied à Terre and online money lender, Wonga.com as winners of the Digital Entrepreneur awards – hailed as the only national stage in the UK dedicated to recognising online business excellence.

Now in their second year, the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year awards are aimed at discovering and rewarding the best businesses on the web and were expanded this year to accommodate a phenomenal number of applications from high-calibre companies. The winners – in categories including Design & Technology, Sustaining Society, Digital Business and E-services – saw off stiff competition from hundreds of web-based businesses who made up an outstanding shortlist of firms that battled it out for the British internet’s biggest awards.

The software developer that closed a deal with trainline.com in May picked up the Software Innovation Entrepreneur of the Year award.

The Masabi mobile application allows users to buy and display UK rail tickets direct from their mobile phones for any route on the National Rail network without having to visit ticket offices or ticket machines. The system began its rollout with Trainline.com earlier this year.

On picking up the award, Ben Whitaker, Masabi’s founder said: “In the next year we hope to do something for the everyman with mobile which means they can get on their trains without queuing. It’s really fun to be able to change an everyday bit of life with a good idea and hard work.”

“We are delighted to be working with the support of our major partners and rail operators to drive these changes because small businesses cannot change big industries on their own.”

Lawrence Jones, managing director of UKFast, the headline sponsor of this year’s awards and one of Europe’s fastest-growing technical companies, said: “It’s been a privilege to be involved in an event that recognises the innovators and entrepreneurs that are changing the face of the net as we know it. We’ve received a record number of entries this year from some pioneering businesses and have been truly inspired by many of them.”

CEO Ben Whitaker (right) and CTO Tom Godber (left) collecting the award for Masabi

Excellent Reviews for thetrainline.com Mobile App on Nokias

Will — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:44:25 +0000

Since its publication on the Nokia Ovi Store on Thursday, the timetabling and ticketing app developed by Masabi has attracted a number of extremely positive reviews from both technology journalists and app users in general. A quick glance at the Ovi Store page for “Trainline Tickets” sees the app rated four out of five stars and includes reviews such as:

“This is a fantastic app and on the N8 it looks and performs like an app you would easily pay for. There isn’t a thing i can fault it on.” 5/5 stars (jackh71)

“great app.could easily be a pay app.recomend 2 all travelers.” 5/5 stars (bram1974)

In addition, two outstanding reviews have been published on the web by mobile app commentators, and serve to highlight the high standard of functionality and usability that were central to the design process for the app:

The NokNok app review site gave it a glowing recommendation to all Nokia users, pointing out some of the key strengths of our app, including: fast download time, quick and easy use, fully detailed ticket options, and security.

“Trainline Tickets is an excellent app if you use the train – even if it’s only once in a blue moon. Along with buying tickets, it’s also great for finding out particular train times, and the app makes it a quick and hassle free process.”

Read the rest of the review here.

A slightly more in-depth, but equally complimentary review appeared on mynokiablog.com, which even included a video walkthrough and screenshots of the app in use, clearly demonstrating just how fast and simple to use it really is.

“This app has been available for download from Ovi Store for a few days now and let me tell you that it’s awesome!”

“It is a really slick useful application for UK train travellers”

“…a very smooth and visually appealing interface to interact with.”

thetrainline.com Mobile App Video Review

Read the rest of the review here.

We are looking forward to receiving a lot more positive reviews in the future!

For details of how to get the app for your phone visit:

http://www.thetrainline.com/train-tickets/mobile-app/index.shtml

Thetrainline App Now Available on Nokia Ovi Store

Will — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:36:02 +0000

Our train ticket app for thetrainline.com is now available for download from Nokia’s Ovi Store!

To get the app, go to the Ovi Store and search for “thetrainline“, “train tickets” or simply “train“. The app will be in the top results. The Store also includes a complete list of compatible Nokia handsets.

Here’s a link to the Trainline Tickets Ovi webpage:

http://store.ovi.com/search?q=thetrainline

If you’re a fan of the app, why not write a review? We’d love to know what you think of it.

The Store provides a huge boost to the overall presence of thetrainline’s free train timetabling and ticketing app for UK rail, developed in conjunction with Masabi: the Ovi Store has roughly 165m users and 3m downloads per day internationally, with 90% of Store visits resulting in an app download.

thetrainline Mobile App Wins Sunday Times Travel App of the Week

Will — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 17:06:26 +0000

We are very pleased to announce that thetrainline app for Blackberry, Nokia, and Sony-Ericsson, developed in conjunction with Masabi, was featured as the Sunday Times Travel App of the Week over the weekend!

The article appeared in the travel section and is available here (for Sunday Times digital subscribers).

A slight clarification ought to be made to a potential misunderstanding in the article, which stated that “all you need to do is saunter up to the collection machines (having given them two hours to process your order) when you arrive at the station“.

You can book a ticket any time up to 10 minutes before the train departs so there’s no need to plan too far in advance. However, if you’re an early planner and book your tickets well ahead of time you have to wait a couple of hours for your ticket to be ready for pick-up.

If you want to try the app text TRAIN to 86688 – and let us know what you think.

New Trainline App Arrives

Will — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:48:42 +0000

You can now buy train tickets over your mobile with the new thetrainline.com app for selected Nokia, Blackberry, Samsung and Sony-Ericsson phones with support for more handsets coming soon (for a full list of compatible handsets check www.thetrainline.com).

Developed in conjunction with Masabi, it’s free to download and is available now – to get the app just text TRAIN to 86688.

Masabi Signs M-Ticketing Deal with thetrainline.com

Tom Godber — Tue, 18 May 2010 09:20:38 +0000

LONDON, UK – 18th May 2010 – Masabi, the developer of m-ticketing software for mass-market phones, today announced that it has signed a deal with thetrainline.com for a mass-market m-ticketing purchase and delivery system. The system will allow users to buy and display UK rail tickets direct from their mobile phones for any route on the National Rail network without having to visit ticket offices or ticket machines. The system is already in development with a rollout expected later in 2010.

While it has been possible to purchase tickets online for some time, the majority of tickets are still bought at the station where queuing can be a problem, particularly at peak times. The Masabi mobile application will enable tickets to be bought on almost any mobile phone and is designed to be easy to use, even for those who have never used a mobile application before. Using the application you will be able to search, purchase tickets using a credit or debit card and then either display the ticket, including a secure barcode, on the phone’s screen or collect a conventional ticket at the train station. Rail operators have already commenced the rollout of barcode scanners on trains and at rail stations, with several major routes expected to be fully covered by the end of this summer.

The Masabi ticketing solution supports the widest range of handsets, from the latest smartphones to very basic handsets. It is also designed to work in the most challenging of situations, using either data or SMS to make fully secure ticket purchases even in areas with very limited phone reception. The system uses Masabi’s award-winning, US government certified, EncryptME security to protect all transactions.

“To-date mobile ticketing has focused on niche trials, but we needed a partner able to address the specific issues of a mass-market rollout in the National Rail network.” said Richard Rowson, product development director of thetrainline.com. “We conducted an extensive RFP process to identify the best technology partner for our mobile ticket sales and delivery system. Masabi were able to offer a unique combination of security, usability, barcode standards and mass-market phone compatibility – alongside a thorough understanding of UK rail.”

“We all know the frustration of waiting for an available ticket machine or window while the minutes tick away towards our train’s departure time” said Ben Whitaker, CEO of Masabi, “By combining our mobile technology with thetrainline.com’s ticketing systems, we will be able to put a ticket machine in everyone’s pocket, regardless of what phone they have.”

About Masabi

Masabi is a UK developer of secure m-ticketing applications for the transport industry. The company’s ticketing technology is currently being used by UK rail operators. In December 2008 Masabi’s design for a secure barcode ticket was adopted as a national standard by the UK Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). The company’s award-winning EncryptME system has been validated by BT Labs and certified by NIST, the US Government’s security standards body. In line with the latest web security standards EncryptME provides payment grade, end-to-end security for all mobile communications over SMS, GPRS, 3G and NFC on almost all handsets. For further details see www.masabi.com

About thetrainline.com

thetrainline.com is the leading UK rail ticket retailer and rail ticket information provider, offering fast and easy access to timetables, fares, reservations and tickets through its Internet site and contact centre operations in the UK train travel sector. In addition to its own website, www.thetrainline.com, it operates retail websites for a number of Train Operating Companies who sell rail tickets online, as well as providing a rail business travel service direct to a number of blue chip corporations and travel agents.