I’m one of those people who loves watching movie previews and trailers. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: I could watch an entire movie filled with just previews. (I’m also one of those people who eats her an entire box of candy before the movie even starts, but I’ll save that tangent for another day.) The preview lover that I am, imagine my anxiety when I went to the movies the other night and was faced with a 30-person-long line to purchase tickets. Luckily I’m a self-service genius so I headed to the touch-screen kiosk to purchase my ticket with the easy swipe of my credit card.

The machines (all five of them) were out of order or out of the physical tickets… Maybe both. To make a long story short, I had to wait in that monstrous line and missed my precious previews.

This week, movie ticket Web site Fandango launched something that could have come to my rescue in that sticky situation — mobile movie tickets. According to Fandango FAQs: Rather than printing at home or collecting your ticket from the box office or theater kiosk, you can have your ticket delivered on your mobile device in a text message. The text message, delivered through either SMS or MMS, will contain a unique barcode and accompanying details for the movie you are going to see. Once you receive your Mobile Ticket, simply take your mobile device with you to the theater and have the barcode scanned right at the ticket podium. There’s no need to wait in line or print anything!

(Photos and more after the jump.)

AT&T Mobile Ticket, via Fandango.com

Verizon Mobile Phone, via Fandango.com

Obviously there are a few catches involved with these never-again-miss-previews tickets. The texts only work with AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile serviced phones. And only select theaters have the capabilities to accept the high-tech bar codes. Fandango denotes the theaters that accept mobile tickets on its site.

I’m interested to see when theaters start accepting these. I’m always cynical when stuff like this comes out. Will people actually use it? Will theaters invest in the resources to make this work? Will it start off strong then fizzle or break in some way? (See the broken credit card kiosk bit above.)

In other mobile news, Target announced that beginning today it will enable customers to use scannable discounts on their mobile devices. Cashiers will scan bar codes on a shopper’s phone, much like they would a physical newspaper coupon. According to the press release: Guests can opt-in to the program on their PC at Target.com/mobile, on their phone at m.target.com or by texting COUPONS to 827438 (TARGET). After opt-in, guests receive a text message with a link to a mobile Web page that contains multiple offers, all accessible through a single barcode. Offers are single use and expire on the date listed.

According to a USA Today article, JCPenney is testing similar mobile functionality, but it requires that cashiers manually input discount codes rather than scanning with that nifty laser device.

I’m excited about the promise that such mobile functionality holds. At the same time, I can’t help but thinking: It’s about time. Who can ever remember to bring along printed coupons, anyway? I know I can’t.

Stay tuned for the May issue of CRM, which will focus on vendor relationship management (VRM). You’ll hear about tools (such as mobile coupons) that provide customers with both independence from vendors and better ways of engaging with vendors. It’s a cool concept that I look forward to share more about.