Passbook also helps in that file folder scenario you mentioned. Between the Groupons, Livenation tickets, baseball tickets, and loyalty cards, there’s just too much stuff to save and remember when doing every day stuff. Having it all in one place and it dynamically updating and reminding consumers when they’ve arrived is a huge help.

Apple should have done more upfront work to get more retailers and venue’s to sign on making this a better and more readily useful tool. Restaurants would be a good one, where you could get a reservation and have your iPhone signal to them if you are in range, running late, etc. More features, more benefits.

Apple is moving past just being a hardware vendor and into a services provider, but if they don’t actually follow through on the necessary steps Passbook could go the way of Ping.

The screen shot on apple’s site shows target, delta, american airline, and starbucks among others. None of these are actually available. Apparently, apple is expecting those companies to go to the trouble of modifying their existing apps to tie into passbook. There is no incentive for them to do so, considering they already have the capabilities passbook has and more built into their existing apps.

On top of that, I have to load the compatible app. Now why would I run 2 apps to do the work of one? Passbook is nothing more than a gloried file folder, from what I can see.

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His one-minute presentation is exciting for three reasons:
(1) Digital wallet has the potential of disrupting payment paths.
That is, instead of paying by cash or credit cards, a Passbook can become both the currency and a bank by which one direct deposits their money. It disintermediates the traditional financial institutions and processes of physical currency, replacing it with an economy predicated on completely digital transactions. What does that mean? You may not need to swipe a credit card (which means the credit card companies and offerings like Square and Intuit are in trouble because the transaction fees go to Apple). You may be able to use Passbook for online payments (which again hurts credit card companies and PayPal – and the transaction fees go to Apple). And it means that Apple could add to its already impressive cash-on-hand balance: iBank, anyone?

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(2) The E-airline ticket scenario implies that Apple has some degree of geo-fencing in place.
Contextual, geographically triggered actions is one of the fundamental requirements for successful SoLoMo – the blending of social, local / location and mobile – in the pursuit of a greater user experience through relevant ad exposure, but more importantly, for proper mobile monetization. That Passbook can understand when to present a digital airline ticket when the user is at an airport is pretty promising. It reveals that Apple has the map and GPS features working (thanks to TomTom); and that it has an algorithm in place that matches location to specific Passbook content (a sign of relevance).

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(3) There can be validation of mobile monetization through Passbook acting as a digital loyalty card and accounting agent.
Another problem with mobile monetization is the inability to track the efficacy of ad spend. The challenges that face a company are …
(a) Is an ad presented properly?;
(b) If the ad is seen, is a purchase directly attributable to the ad?; and
(c) How does one track if the spend is from a new customer (which is desirable in building a wider customer base) or an existing customer (with the complaint that a sale still would have occurred in the absence of a “wasted” ad or that a digital coupon conceded margin in a sale that would have happened even in the absence of discounting).

If Passbook is properly installed,
(a) Cross-checking social profiles against map products produces relevant ad presentation;
(b) Could be assumed based on comparing the times between ad acknowledgement and purchase. This can be further facilitated by a digital coupon with an expiration time; and
(c) By creating a zero-date, customers can be categorized by not only “first spend” (new vs. existing customer), but data collection on variables such as locations frequented, time and dates of spend, frequency, average sales ticket, and products purchased can be initiated. Campaigns could be built by segmenting the customer base and defining their level of bonding.
All of these things validate mobile ad sales.