Coming out of Developer Day at Mobile World Congress, Samsung has unveiled Wallet. Despite the way the name may sound, the wallet app is not a payment system. Instead Wallet will be similar to what we have seen with Passbook from Apple. That is to say Samsung Wallet will be a ticket and coupon management app. One catch here, while Samsung has offered some official details, you are not going to find this in the Google Play Store just yet.
In an effort to keep from making comparisons to Passbook, here is how Samsung describes Wallet; “a convenient mobile app which allows users to store and manage event tickets, boarding passes, membership cards and coupons all in one place.” Wallet will bring features such as push notifications based on location and some of the launch partners will include Walgreens and MLB as well as Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com and Lufthansa.
We would also expect the list of partners to grow as we get closer to a public release. As of now the Samsung Wallet API is in beta and available only for developers. Looking forward, Samsung has said they will be accepting early sign-ups. At this time a specific date as to when that will happen has not been given.
Otherwise, similar to the recent news of Samsung partnering with Visa on the payWave NFC payments, we are expecting to learn more about the Samsung Wallet app on March 14 when the company announces the Galaxy S IV. Basically, and not to poke fun at Samsung, but it looks like Android users will soon have Passbook Wallet.
[via TNW]
I wonder if the gimps at Verizion will block this app too?
As a Verizon user, I hope not.
Verizon’s anticompetitive practices soon will be a subject of FCC/DOJ investigation, after which ALL WALLET APPS will become available to download and use!
The pictures look like screenshots of Apples passbook. Why can’t Samsung be like any other Android manufacturer and at least try to be different.
What the hack? Samsung copies everything from Android and adds to TouchWize.
This app will basically help in the process of eBooking, and make life a lot easy for people. In a competitive scenario this is only normal. If iOS has an app that can offer these functions, isn’t it obvious that Android (a potential competitor) too will try to make a mark by bringing a similar app?
As long as this will continue it is a gala time for users. They will get to use a lot of new things for sure.