With Apple’s Passbook app just over the horizon, it’s set to show up with iOS 6 this fall, Google is planning on enhancing its Wallet service with new features such as location aware affinity cards, boarding passes, and event tickets.
The new features that Google has planned for Wallet were revealed in a video posted to YouTube.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is make it easy for airlines, transit providers, and other types of issuers of credentials to make it super simple for them to get their credentials stored in the Wallet,” Dua said. “That’s the goal. We want you to be able to leave your leather wallet at home and carry your phone and transact with that as your primary transaction device.”
Google launched its NFC payment service last May, and a number of Android-based devices with NFC chips for mobile transactions have been released in the interim.
While there had been rumors that Apple was planning on including NFC capabilities in their latest iPhone, those rumors were definitively quashed by Jim Dalrymple on Tuesday, also ending speculation about NFC e-wallet functionality being included in Passbook.
Apple is pushing Passbook as a highlighted feature in iOS 6, describing the new software as “your boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, and more now all in one place.”
Passbook is driven by location awareness, and quickly provides user with store loyalty cards, and other items for use in nearby businesses. The video shows that Google will now be loading its “Wallet” with similar functionality in order to better compete with Passbook.