Apple to organise your wallet, replacing credit cards next?

On Monday Apple held its annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco and announced a raft of updates to both its software and developer products.
Alongside the usual updated notebook and desktop computers, Apple previewed its new mobile operating system iOS 6 for iPhones and iPads.

A new feature the company showed off was an application called PassBook, which Apple hope will replace users’ wallets. The application allows users to store digital versions of flight passes, concert tickets, cinema tickets and retail loyalty cards on their phones.

It works by scanning a barcode into the phone and storing the information, which can then be updated by the service provider. For example, new flight information will show up on the phone if a flight has been delayed.

Launch partners include United Airlines, Starbucks, Target, and MLB.com, but once launched it’s hoped many other companies will join in.

With Apple set to launch a new iPhone in September, some believe they will introduce a Near Field Communication (NFC) payment system, allowing users to pay for services with the swipe of their iPhones.

However, it is possible that the PassBook app will mean this is unnecessary. Apple already has millions of users bank details through the iTunes Store accounts. It could be possible for Apple to enable some sort of payment scheme with these accounts via the PassBook digital wallet.