Another piece of great coverage published in The Standard on PassKit and Passbook although there are some inaccuracies. Knowing that many others may have the same misconceptions about PassKit, we are here to rectify them and debunk the “myths” of PassKit:
1) “Passbook was difficult to download and not capable of making electronic payments.”
- Passbook is an app, pre-installed into every iPhone, which lets users carry around mobile coupons, boarding passes, event tickets, store cards and other types of content that you may have typically carried around in paper or plastic format, like a coffee store loyalty card. It’s a native app, meaning it cannot be installed, or deleted.
2) ““It was not easy for merchants to access Passbook when it was first launched because people are frustrated by complicated technologies,” Tomes said.”
- To clarify, I was actually saying that although Passbook is an incredible tool for business and consumers, it can be complex for merchants to create and maintain the Passbook Passes. Businesses and marketers need a huge amount of resources, time and money, to develop and push a piece of mobile content to a device on their own. This is where we spotted a market opportunity and started PassKit. Our Pass Designer makes it easy for anyone to create and launch a mobile Pass!
3) “So the former bank employee-turned-entrepreneur came with a solution: PassKit. The app facilitates electronic payments and makes Passbook easier to download.”
- PassKit is not an app, nor are we part of Apple’s Passbook app. We don’t make Passbook easier to download, because it’s native. We use our secure, proven and extensive cloud infrastructure to help businesses develop, distribute and manage mobile wallet content. I’d also like to point out that I didn’t come up with this idea on my own – PassKit was and is very much a joint effort between me and my colleague Nick Murray, co-founder and CTO.
4) “Corporate users in Hong Kong usually pay about HK$800 per month for unlimited use of Passkit.”
- HKD $800 for unlimited use of PassKit is not quite right! There is a limit of 5,000 Passes, but unlimited updates to each of those 5,000 Passes.
Now that that’s settled, check out the article here.
