In an effort to compete with Apple, Samsung has announced a Passbook-like feature also known as Samsung Wallet. The feature is being touted as part of an app that provides open API for integration of event tickets, passes, coupons and membership cards in a single place. The app was demoed at a developer event in the ongoing Mobile World Congress and is most likely to be one of those features which will be a part of Samsung Galaxy S4 which is confirmed for release on March 14.
The overall features along with the look and feel of the app is very
similar to Passbook which involves the ability to store tickets in electronic form which can then be scanned in the form of bar codes which can be pushed to users based on time and location, as and when they are to be used appropriately. It also allows details related to tickets and boarding passes to be changed and updated in real-time if needed.
Currently the API Overview and specification along with the programming guide are available on the Samsung developer website. Developers will be able to use the APIs for development starting March 7. The UI Guide and the Wallet App itself will be released in the Samsung app store soon enough in the near future.
One concern that is being shown is the fact that this will obviously work only with Samsung devices. This functionality would have been much better implemented if it would have been included in the core Android experience and was made to be available for all Android based devices.
