Apple has made a small but significant tweak to its App Store for iOS 6 users, changing the Apps for Passbook section of the store. Before, when you clicked through in Passbook the link that brings you to a list of apps, that’s all you saw: a simple listing of compatible apps. Now, there’s a new paragraph describing what Passbook is, and what Passbook-enabled apps are capable of.
Here’s the new descriptive paragraph in full:
Passbook is the simplest way to store your boarding passes, tickets, coupons, gift cards and more in one place. With Passbook, you can scan your iPhone or iPod touch to check in for a flight, get into a movie, or redeem a coupon. Wake your iPhone or iPod touch, and passes appear on your Lock screen at the appropriate time and place. Explore our collection of apps that work with Passbook and check back often as new partners will be added regularly.
The new information is clearly designed to help new users get up to speed on what Passbook is and what it provides. I noted in my first test of Passbook that it might not be clear enough what the feature is and how it’s intended to be used for people who’ve never heard of it before or read the extensive descriptions at Apple’s site or elsewhere on the web.
This is a good step towards raising awareness about Passbook, which should eventually become a key feature of iOS, once more developers come on board. Passbook is the first step in a mobile wallet strategy for Apple, and it’s good to see the company paying attention to how it’s received and communicated to users and already making changes for the better.