“Nearly a month after launching its virtual wallet iPhone app, Passbook, Apple is preparing to put the feature to good use in its physical retail stores,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac.
“While Apple’s EasyPay software should be ready for Passbook this month, some sources noted that the current EasyPay hardware, at least at some retail stores, may not be capable of scanning iOS device displays,” Gurman reports. “Presumably, Apple has a solution for this in the works.”
Gurman reports, “Apple currently allows customers to purchase items such as accessories via their iTunes accounts through the Apple Store iOS app’s EasyPay feature. The differentiator here is the higher limit for a gift card, so customers could pay for their new iPhones, iPads, iPods, or even Macs with their current iOS 6 mobile device via an Apple Store employee.”
Read more in the full article here.
I have yet to find a use for passbook. It seems like it would work great… but there’s not a lot of companies using it… or maybe I’m doing something wrong. I don’t know. I went into starbucks recently and though… here’s a chance to use the passbook thing… I loaded the passbook app… downloaded the starbucks “app” for it… and… well, I gave up.
The Starbucks app (and now the Passbook card for it) are super easy to use…
I couldn’t find an obvious way to get the Starbucks passbook loaded. I don’t have any money stored on the card and I haven’t attached a credit card to my Starbucks app. Perhaps that is the problem but . . . it is impossible to find out why it isn’t working for Passbook.
From the “My Cards” page of the Starbucks app, just hit “Manage” and the last option before “Cancel” should be “Add Card to Passbook”.
My card does have a credit card attached and is on auto reload, so not sure it may not work without a card attached.
Thanks for the help. I tried it and there is no ‘Add Card to Passbook’ on my app. I have the latest version of the app too.
Starbucks app works great, it pops up on the screen whenever you get within a few blocks of a Starbucks…The only problem is that I live in downtown Seattle so now I have a Starbucks logo permanently on my home screen.
Ha. That’s funny.
I tried using my Walgreens card on passbook but their laser scanner didn’t work with the glass display. Made me wonder what the point of it is, if nobody’s standard scanners can work on the glass display. If Apple can make it work in house, great, but that won’t help if nobody else upgrades or changes their scanner devices.
I almost used it at a Giants game recently. I am looking forward to cutting down on the bulk in my wallet with unimportant rewards cards.
I use my iPhone for boarding cards at airports and fortunately the scanners work fine. I guess you were unlucky.
This is where is Steve is missed. His negotiation skill and marketing set would have ensured a couple of more high profile companies would have had running passbook cards.
Traveling on United Airlines with my Passbook boarding passes was a cinch. It was so convenient and I hope more companies support this app!
Only problem right now is looking for WiFi to add new itineraries because data roaming is very expensive once you cross the border.
I enjoy the Apple ecosystem and have two iMacs, a MBPR, three iPads, two iPods, and four ATVs. However, as of late, I have been very disappointed with Apple. The Maps debacle, Siri is not usable for me about 1/3 of the time, and so far I have found the Passbook app useless. Maybe they should have called Passbook a beta as well. The competition is to strong to allow your products to be plagued with issues which could have been avoided.
Occasionally we need to voice our displeasure where warranted, in hopes that the squeaky wheel will get oiled!
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