GPS in Marketing, and Time-and-Place-Specific Services

When Apple's Passbook app, which was released last fall along with iOS and iPhone updates, first came out, I was excited about the potential for location- and time-specific services and marketing. The promise was clear: "Passbook keeps your boarding passes, loyalty cards, retail coupons, movie tickets, and more all in one place -- on your iPhone or iPod touch," stated Apple. "No worrying about misplaced printouts. Or rifling through your wallet at checkout. Just open Passbook and tap the pass you need." What's more, The app presents generated barcodes for all types of transactions, and adjusts offers and things like airline boarding passes, depending on time and GPS location. But Passbook was launched with few functional apps, and was slow to get new apps and services on board. That's turning around, however, and Apple is developing a pretty solid suite of recommended apps, now including Starbucks (an early entry), Fandango for movies, Amtrak, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta, Square Wallet, Target, Ticketmaster, and more. While Passbook is a pioneer in location-specific-marketing, other apps, (the best is LivingSocial, which also works with Passbook) can show you deals, coupons, live events, and more based on your location. GPS and location are even becoming a factor in creating the perfectly optimized page for web search. Watch for ever-more location- and time-specific ads in the future. Image © Apple