Ticket marketplace StubHub recently announced its integration with the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the University of Texas (UT) to increase mobile payment processing and ticketing capabilities to those schools' sporting events through Apple Passbook.

Under the terms of the collaboration, fans would be able to purchase tickets to UNC Tar Heels and UT Longhorns sporting events. By integrating with Apple's Passbook, users can find tickets, pay for them and engage in mobile barcode ticketing all from their smartphones.

"StubHub is laser-focused on providing fans with an innovative, best-in-class experience across all platforms; integrating with Apple Passbook is a huge step forward for the future of live events," Ray Elias, Chief Marketing Officer at StubHub, said in a statement. "Through this integration with [UT and UNC] and Apple Passbook, we can provide fans with a true end-to-end experience...via their mobile devices."

Being able to handle ticket-related payment processing and scanning capabilities on a smartphone is one of the key selling points to Apple Passbook, which as introduced in Apple's iOS 6 mobile platform, the news source reports. Having the convenience of purchasing tickets and storing tickets all in one place has been deemed as the future of ticketing.