When Apple announced iOS 6, it named Passbook as one of the main novelties of this new version, which presaged that it would also have a popular reception outside the United States, but the reality is that it is not. In Spain There are only a handful of applications that have support for Passbook, but it is even more incredible that the few that do support it are not highlighted by Apple in the section for that purpose.
Everyone's problem
I don't know about you, but to this day I have not used even once passbook. I have not been able to save any discount coupons, any show tickets or anything like it. I will soon be able to test it on a flight with American Airlines, and it is precisely this wait of many months that has made me reflect on this matter.
Passbook is a very interesting idea, it has even been recently copied - like so many other things - by Samsung. The problem is that it has not generated the enthusiasm that was thought among users and much less among companies, who have not seen Passbook as a way to attract new customers and retain existing ones even more.
Common uses
If we stick to Spain, we can find uses for Passbook as interesting as, for example, accumulating points at gas stations or saving the discount coupons that many major supermarkets and hypermarkets use, saving us carrying a few tickets in our wallet, using less paper -benefits for the environment- and improving the overall image of the service , since managing discounts with an app gives a really positive modernization image.
The idea of the service is really goodBut it would be unfair to say that companies and developers have all been to blame for not implementing them. Apple has not wanted or has not been able to promote this technology as much as its resources allow and I imagine that perhaps they have their reasons for having done it this way. The impression it gives me is that Apple cares very little about the use of Passbook outside the United States, while there they have been more concerned about the service and because the big companies give it official support.
Let's hope that over time more companies will join, since right now the use that is given outside the US to this feature borders on the marginal, and it's a real shame that it's happening with a good idea.
I have used this application for movie tickets, the truth is that it is a service and it is very convenient not to have to print them.
What are you waiting to go to the Fnac, and use it with the discount vouchers or with the membership card itself ... it is simply useful, as the one above says for the cinema it would be milk 😀
You say it yourself, to go to Fnac. In Spain there are hundreds of businesses with IT departments of more than 25 or 50 people, and only two or three allow the use of Passbook. I don't know, Carrefour, MediaMarkt, Leroy Merlin ...
I think that it is rather the companies that are not bothering to adapt their services to it. The fact that there are already some that do it means that it is already possible, and if it is possible for some, why not for others? In Spain we go light years from many other countries, and if we compare ourselves with the United States… I won't tell you anymore.
I have already used it several times in the cinema, the first time it was a bit chaotic because it had just been released and the cinema employees did not know how it works well, but the following ones it was everything like silk, very comfortable.
Fnac, cinemas, show tickets ... there are more and more companies using Passbook in Spain. But the downside (in my opinion) is not so much on the side of the smartphone, but the code reader that companies have to have. Yes, it is very nice to say that your loyalty card is on your mobile, but…. Are all the POSs adapted to it? And what is better ... who pays for the adaptation?
I have had the opportunity to visit several countries and I was surprised by the adoption of the service, I do not know in Spain, but in Mexico for example they use it for practically all cinema chains, an airline is in Beta and several chains already have their coupons, in Other Latin American countries are also being used and in Europe at least where I have gone I have also found stores using them, we cannot criticize the technology just because some companies without a vision of the future do not want to get on the train, the same happened with the cards of credit.
I recently used a passbook with a flight with the VUELING company that has support for pasbbok, it is really useful, fast and comfortable, if it is a pity that this application in Spain is marginalized, they should give it more importance and have more support with many more companies and promote the application by d apple. Greetings I read to you daily! 😉
Hello, I fly with vueling and I have checked in with passbook, do I need to print the ticket before entering the terminal? Or is it valid with the bidi of the mobile? All the best
In Mexico in cinepolis it works excellent
How do you make it work in cinepolis?
Thank you
Kinepolis, ticketea, works with it.
At Tickets.com, when you buy your ticket for a cinema, theater or concert on the web, you have the option of having your ticket in Passbook… At least we have 1 in Spain that provides this service. I used it in Yelmo Cines with the movie "Django" and it was like silk 🙂 yes, I had to talk to 2 or 3 cinema workers until I found someone who had proof of this service in their cinema, half did not even know what it was… :/
I agree with the author and with the colleagues who write if there are companies that already use it but its increase and popularity to make it as famous as in NFC is on the part of Apple because for something they bet once again on their own innovations. Good article. Greetings.
http://www.cupon360.com in Mexico more precise in Guadalajara
Well, I disagree. I use it more and more: opera tickets, Renfe tickets, plane tickets (Iberia, Vueling, etc.), loyalty cards from some places ... I suppose that in the last year the situation has changed a lot. On the other hand, the Passbook standard (from Apple) has been successfully "exported" to other platforms (Android), so I have no doubt: it will "take off" 🙂