Almost 3 billion mobile coupons will be sent to mobile phones by 2011, with just under $7 billion worth of discounts being redeemed according to Juniper Research. The analyst also predicted that 2.6 billion mobile tickets wroth $87 billion will be delivered by 2011. Mobile coupons have some obvious benefits over their paper-based forebears, but will also require some retailers to change their scanning system from laser scanners to optical readers that can read 2D barcodes on mobile phones. However, Juniper also reckons that the mobile barcode technology will be “gradually complimented” by NFC (Near Field Communication), which will require another upgrade of point-of-sale scanners. (release)