The Future of Passbook

The Future of Passbook:
This post was written by Appsolute Genius CEO Brian Cauble. You can follow him on Twitter here: @briancauble
We’ve been fortunate at Appsolute Genius to see some really interesting innovations in the mobile world over the last 3+ years.  We remember the advent of push notifications, the iPad, background notifications, reminders, and much more.
Each year, Apple hosts WWDC (the World Wide Developers Conference), and each year, Apple tends to make some big announcements at WWDC.  While Apple did not grind the world to a halt with an announcement of the next iPhone, they did make several big announcements which you can read about here in a previous blog post.  Today I want to take a minute to explore one of the biggest new features in iOS 6.0, Passbook.

What is Passbook?

What exactly is Passbook?  Basically, Passbook allows you (the iPhone user) to keep all your passes in one place.
So what are passes?  They are your store cards (loyalty cards, member cards, gift cards, etc), coupons, boarding passes, and tickets (events, concerts, etc).
Imagine what life would be like if you had a special wallet for all of these passes.  Now imagine the wallet being stored on your iPhone.  That idea is a fairly accurate depiction of Passbook.

Why should I care about Passbook?

If you’re an iPhone user (yes, I said iPhone because it won’t be available on the iPad), you will have a Passbook app. After you open the app, “passes” will display on your screen showing scannable barcodes.  Then you can offer your screen to be scanned at a point of purchase or event entry and your coupon, loyalty card, or movie ticket will be instantly redeemed.  This saves you the trouble of fishing around in your wallet or purse for a card, ticket, or other physical pass.
To make this a little more interesting, passes can be GPS-enabled so that a particular  pass pops up on your phone when you walk into a store associated with that pass.  For example, your GAP gift card could pop up immediately upon entering a GAP store.
Passes can also show up on the iPhone lock screen, which saves you the trouble of  having to open the Passbook app to redeem your pass.

Here are a few really cool things you can do with Passbook:

How many times have you gone to a store and forgotten your store card or gift card?  With passes, you walk into the store and are instantly reminded that you have a gift card.

Have you ever misplaced your boarding passes or concert tickets?  With passes, you’ll just bring the ticket up on the phone and let the gate agent scan the barcode on the phone.

Do you ever forget to print a coupon? Or would you jump on the couponing bandwagon if it were just a bit less tedious to clip, print, and manage all your coupons?  Imagine that Target emails you a coupon.  All you will need to do is add it to your passes in your Passbook app and you’ll be reminded to redeem it when you go arrive at Target.

What else do I need to know?

Passes won’t be available for every company.  It will be up to companies like Target, Groupon, Starbucks, Delta, and more to implement passes or hire firms like Appsolute Genius to create passes.

There will be companion apps that allow you to modify certain passes.  For instance, you will be able to change your seat in the United Airlines app, and your pass will automatically update.

Expect coupons, tickets, boarding passes, and more created for the Passbook app to start showing up in your email pretty soon.

The Future

I find this to be very, very exciting.  I’ve thought for a while that we are heading towards a world where the phone will become your wallet.  That world seems to be arriving.
I see a day in which physical tickets, gift cards, loyalty cards, and even credit cards are a thing of the past.  Our children and grandchildren will laugh and wonder in amazement at why we ever carried a piece of plastic.
Now, one purely speculative prediction I have involves passes and the next iPhone.  I believe the next iPhone will include NFC (Near Field Communication) and will integrate NFC with Passbook.   Although right now you have to scan a barcode to redeem a pass, I believe in the near future you will be able to simply swipe your phone within a few inches of a NFC reader to pay with your gift card or scan your boarding pass.
If you have any more questions about Passbook, let us know.  We’re happy to help.
Also, if Appsolute Genius created your app, contact us for a free iOS 6.0 review meeting to learn how you might use Passbook or any other exciting new iOS 6.0 features!