With this in mind I decided to dip my toe into the world of Passbook Passes and try creating one using one of the many online pass creators.

One thing I noticed with the first creator I tried was that it had a live view which showed what the pass looked like at every stage of the design. However, I was disappointed with the resulting pass as it seemed the representation was not entirely accurate. This caused me to have to go and edit the template again in order for the pass to look right in my Passbook App.

For me, being able to see how the pass will look is quite important, it saves time and gives confidence that what you are designing will look like a professional product. So I thought I would create an exact same pass using three popular online pass creation services and see how close their live view came to the actual pass when installed on my iPhone.

Testing the online Passbook Pass Designers

First up is Passtools.  I duly entered the data and images required and was quite pleased with the result.

As you can see, everything looks neat and tidy and in the correct place, the only thing that I was disappointed with is that the logo image I used was wider and I intended it to cover most of the header area.  However I was pleased with the result so I saved the Pass and received an email to download the pass.

This is the resulting pass after I had installed it.  As you can see there are some rather large differences to the pass displayed in the designer.

As I understand it the strip image is cropped slightly when a QR code is used, however this is not reflected in the Passtools designer live view.  Also, I was pleased to see that my logo had been displayed as I wanted, but again the expiry date is overlaid which is not shown in the designer.

To correct this I need to enter the designer again and guess what will look right, and hope it does.

Next I tried PassKit.

I was pleased to see that when I entered the same data and images to create the pass, the PassKit live view showed me that what I wanted didn’t quite fit (see left).

I was then able to edit everything before even saving the pass so it looked perfect.

This is how my pass looked in the PassKit Pass Designers live view (see right) after I had made some adjustments.

I removed the expiry date thinking that can be added onto the back page, and shortened the offer, again the terms and conditions can be added to the back page.

So I went ahead and saved the Pass and scanned the link to my iPhone using the handy QR code provided in the designer.

As you can see the result was perfect.  Everything is where it should be compared to the PassKit Pass Designers live view and I was very happy with the result.

Last of all I tried Passdock.

Again, I was pleased that their live view picked up the fact that the layout would not work.

This also meant I could make changes to the template to make sure everything looked great before saving and installing on my iPhone.

I made the same changes as with the PassKit Pass and the Passdock designer showed this view.

I noticed the dots in the right hand corner though, so I double checked that field in the designer. As you can see below there wasn’t any data in the field, so I saved the pass and installed it on my iPhone

So this is how the Passdock pass looked in my Passbook.

Everything is in the right place, however the expiry date field is still showing.  As you saw previously there was no data in the field before I saved the pass, and it certainly wasn’t represented on their live view.

I tried three or four times to remove the expiry date but it wouldn’t budge, It seems I will have to go through the whole process again and create a new pass if I don’t want that expiry date to be there.

So which online Pass Designer is the best ?

PassKit has to be the winner based on the results above alone.  I have no doubt that the other two companies provide a good service, but for me being able to confidently design a pass and knowing pretty much exactly what it will look like using their live view is a key factor.  I simply don’t have the time to guess whether my pass will look right when I install it on my device, I want to design it, save it and install it/distribute it

In the PassKit FAQ’s they say that their Pass Designer is WYSIWYG, and there is certainly no doubting that.

Although this experiment was primarily to test the live view functionality of the three providers, I have to mention that I was very impressed with the PassKit designer, it was very professional looking and intuitive, I’m not saying the others weren’t it’s just that the ‘feel’ was better.  Also it seemed that Passtools and Passdock are holding something back, or not opening up the full features of Passbook Passes, yet PassKit has a vast array of features available in the pass designer, even for the free user like me.

We have already entered and hope we can win one of the prizes, but in the interest of fairness and to encourage everyone to start benefitting from Passbook we wanted to share how to enter for yourself.

Firstly you visit https://pass.is/KpFwJa on your iPhone or in Safari (if you are running OSX 10.8.2).
You will then see a screen that asks you a number of questions:

1. What is your PassKit username?
2. What is the Pass URL?
3. What do or did you hope to achieve with this Pass?
4. What was your inspiration for this Pass?
5. What’s your long term vision for using PassKit Passes? and
6. Why should you win the PassKit competition?

PassKit provide a little more guidance on these questions here

At the bottom of the screen there is the familiar Add to Passbook button. Tap on this and you see your personalised Contest Entry Pass.  We thought this was very cool and ingenious in itself and we hope to feature some more ideas about how you could use Passbook for contest tickets.

Be sure to click Add – to make sure it gets added to Passbook. Or if you are not on an iOS device then please add to PassWallet.

On the back of the Pass, you can find more information and a reminder of your answers. The Passbook contest rules state that you need to keep this Contest Entry Pass in Passbook, or PassWallet, until the winners are announced.

PassKit said they will assess your answers and the Pass you designed; looking for beauty, eye catching design, high quality images, clever use of text, alignment to purposes etc.. and announce the winners on 31 December 2012.

We definitely encourage you to enter, even if you have only just started playing with Passbook, as winning one of the packages could be just what you need to keep ahead of the pack in mobile marketing.

Good luck

After considering all the factors listed here, the author has taken each of the companies and given them points out of 9.  The more points given, the more superior the quality or service.  Note that these are the subjective views of the author and are to provide conclusive insight to the analysis.

Evidently, PassKit, Passdock, and Passsource scored the highest based on this analysis.  No company listed above is perfect and there is always room for improvement.  However, based on what is currently available on the market, some of these companies lack professionalism while others are much more competent in the integration of services.

Hopefully, this analysis has provided more insight into the different aspects of each of the Pass designing companies.  Specifically, presenting the framework or relevant factors for you, as a consumer or business, to be aware of before signing up with any service.  Good luck with your future business endeavors, and feel free to ask any questions if needed.

Selling Tactics and Pricing

So how have these companies leveraged their financial acumen to provide pricing and market their services?  In terms of integrity and selling tactics, these were measured against Apple’s standards and how compliant each business is.  These include the extent to which passes can be offered and the samples they are authorized to use or display on their websites.  Apple has specifically said that these companies are only allowed to give samples or demos on pass templates in which the underlying companies have given them the authority to.

Passsource and PassDock have a large number of samples with company branding on them.  For example, Toys R Us, H&M, Emirates, American Express, Sephora, Virgin Australia, and much more sample passes appear frequently on their websites for users to download.  It is uncertain whether Passsource and PassDock have been legally granted permission to display these brands in their samples, which could pose a conflict in the future.

PassKit and Passify however, are compliant with Apple standards.  PassKit already has known clients with Apple Australia, Subway, and Jashan, and they are authorized to use these as samples on their website.  Passify’s samples don’t have corporate branding attached to them, and thus satisfy Apple’s legal terms.  Integrity and marketing/selling strategies are important to the future success of a business.  Compliance to standards demonstrate the management’s integrity, capabilities, and completeness.

Finally, onto pricing. All of these businesses have different pricing schemes.  For example, in addition to the free user accounts, there are other packages for commercial purposes depending on the volume of passes companies require.  The table below is just some information to reference by and are not comprehensive of the relevant pricing.

PassKit has a versatile pricing plan, with 6 different types that businesses or individuals can choose from.   Each plan has a number of features and depending on the needs of a consumer or business, their pricing plans are very accommodating.

Passsource has two types of accounts: personal and professional, and users are charged either on a monthly or yearly basis.  On top of this Passsource has a pay as you go pricing scheme, a custom certificate setup service, and web service integration services.

Documentation, API, Server platform, SDK

Here comes the technological aspects of each website, which may or may not be understandable for the average user.  Even so, some of these businesses have integrated themselves fully into providing a wide range of tools for a number of customers.

The documentation includes all the information one could know about Passbook and its passes, a glossary or some sort.  There is no standard form as to how each company presents its documentation, and it has been discovered that all are unique.  PassKit, Passdock, PassTools, and PassSlot have great documentation and are of superior quality.  PassKit’s is documented out on a Google Code website and the business was very comprehensive in its content, providing the resources and tools for understanding the processes and components of pass creation. Passdock’s documentation followed a very neat and user friendly layout, allowing for easy navigation to the relevant sections available.  PassTool and PassSlot have thorough references as well, even including a tutorial through step by step instructions on its documentations.  Although PassSource’s documentation is published, its scroll down format made it hard to navigate and find relevant sections.  Even so, the mere presence of documentations signify a company’s comprehensive strategies.

Some of these websites do not have an API for businesses to use.  Of the ones that do provide it, the following table lists the number of API methods that is available.  These include the various components of generating, updating, and managing passes.  In essence, the more methods, the more capabilities it offers.

Some may be interested in the server platform that each company is hosted on.  Ultimately, these are HTTP web servers with unique functionalities and features. The author has managed to find that PassKit uses Nginex and Passsource uses Apache.

As for SDKs (software development kit), no website has this except for PassSlot.   Their iOS SDK beta is available for download on their website.  SDK’s essentially are a set of development tools that enable third party users to create applications based on the original framework or programming system.

Support, Customer Service, Guides/Videos

This is a very important part of the consumer-business relationship.  Having support and an efficient customer service team to handle any queries, pass creation difficulties, implementation strategies, or even marketing tactics marks a company’s professionalism.  The standard customer service/help e-mail address and FAQ sections provided by most of these businesses.  But what stood out was Passdock and PassKit.  Passdock has a discussion section for users to post forums onto when they need help with a number of Passbook related items, and PassKit hosts a similar “issues” section that highlights and solves pressing problems.  The availability of an effective support team is crucial.

In addition to email support, discussion forums, and FAQ sections, companies like PassKit, Passdock, PassPages, and PassSlot have provided another component to engage with businesses and individuals.  They have all published video tutorials on how to use their web services, with clips outlining step by step how to use their designers.  These can be found on their YouTube channels, and have helped users from around the world understand the functionality of their services much more.

Next, the author took the liberty of sending out an e-mail enquiry to each of these companies to test response time and measure their efficiency in addressing customer issues. Note that this may not be the best way of depicting efficiency due to time zone differences, but nonetheless shows how systematic each company is.  The following are businesses which responded in less than 1 day and are ordered according to their efficiency:

1. Passify
2. PassKit
3. PassTools
4. PassSource
5. PassSlot

Security, reliability, scalability and speed

Security refers to the encryption and authentication used.  When there is sensitive e-mail and password information involved on the web, consumers and businesses require a secure and protected environment.  The most secure services are PassKit, Passdock, and PassSlot, as when entering log-in information, it is over https connection.  Passsource, PassPages, and Passify are not https enabled.  Although PassTools functions under https, there were security issues with the service and the browser blocked access to it for several hours.

Most of these businesses are reliable and the author hasn’t experienced too much trouble with server issues.  However, PassTools has a security issue or threat that the author’s browser blocked, and Passsource’s service has been down a countless number of times.  Passdock, PassPages, and PassKit have all been very reliable these past couple of months.

Scalability refers to the volume or the general size of their servers, or the potential capacity these services can handle.  Though it was difficult to determine, the author was informed that PassKit has unlimited capacity.  As for the other businesses, this is uncertain and the information could not been obtained.

Passbook Generator, Creator, Designer Service

Now comes the part where everyone is probably most interested in.  How well does each company provide the service to create, manage, update, distribute, and design Passbook passes?

PassKit

Their Pass Designer is laid out in a very easy to use format, with sections at the top showing each component of creating a Passbook pass.  Everything is organized, and they have even incorporated a real time preview of what the Passbook pass would look like (one that is very accurate) on a device.  The ability to add text, images, enable fields as dynamic or static, use locations and locales show the multitude of features this designer has.  This is by far one of the most appealing and user friendly creators out there**. PassKit is even in the process of providing a scanning app so that businesses don’t need to invest in expensive scanning solutions. However, a current drawback of the Designer is the layout of managing one’s passes.  Right now, it’s simply a scroll through list, but PassKit does mention that they are working on a more sophisticated dashboard/management interface.

** The author managed to speak with one of the developers at PassKit and was told “…. when developing the Designer, we worked hand in hand with a renowned web usability team to deliver the most intuitive experience without compromise on functionality.”

Passsource

Though Passsource has many templates for users to choose from, the number of features are limited for free users.  In terms of designing a pass, the scroll down page with the relevant input fields isn’t user friendly like PassKit’s.  It’s difficult for the average user to understand what text fields to input and where it would appear on the pass,  as there is no visual editor for free users.  But when creating passes using an iPhone, the scroll through capability is advantageous.  Passsource even has a companion app called “Pass Scanner” available for download on the iTunes store.  In terms of managing passes, one would need a subscription to keep track of templates or passes that you’ve created.

Passdock

Passdock’s pass generator is very easy to follow, with arrows that guide the user along the pass creation process.  Everything is sectioned off into parts, starting with the general layout and pass type, followed by text fields, and editing the back section of a pass.  They even have a real time simulator that shows you how the pass would look, though not as accurately designed as PassKit’s simulator.  PassDock has a very nice dashboard that allows users to easily track and manage one’s passes and templates.

Passify

Passify is another good resource, as they include a pass simulator too, though not as accurate or professional as PassKit’s.  The interesting part of this designer is that it allows users to click on the sections of the pass simulator and edit text and add images from there.  This is great because users can easily determine which text goes where by selecting the area that the label is present.  However, the ability to upload images did not always work and the designer only enabled one back field text input.  In terms of managing passes, they have a scroll through list that is very concise and easy to follow.

PassTools

PassTools designer tool was also another easy to follow service, with concise descriptions of the relevant pass creation sections.  Their simulator wasn’t as accurate and lacked the capability of viewing the back of the pass, but still a good way to help users visualize their passes.  They have even created a very nice and organized dashboard for users to track and manage their passes, which shows the number of passes created, the number of passes added, and the number of passes removed.  It definitely has one of the best visual and organized structure when it comes to managing your passes.  Despite all of this, there were some security issues with the designer and did not enable the author access to the designer for several hours.

PassPages

Alongside the seemingly simple simulator, there is a scroll down list of fields that a user can enter.  However, the free version limits you to the number of fields you can input on a pass and doesn’t allow you to insert images.  It doesn’t look professional and you can only choose to create store cards and coupons at the moment.

PassSlot

This was designed for developers and would require one to own an iOS developer account in order to utilize their service.  So for developers, this is a good tool for you to implement, but for regular consumers and businesses without developer knowledge, you may want to look at a different service.

Passfu and PassRocket - Their pass creators haven’t been released yet.

Brand Identity, SEO, Social Media

These companies would not have been found by chance.  Their brand identity, as well as the use of SEO tools and social media, leads you to their services.  We live in the digital era, and the power of the Internet in spreading awareness is beyond comprehensible.  Passsource performs incredibly well in the search results; appearing almost everywhere whenever searching for anything Passbook related.  Following very closely is PassKit, and then Passdock and Passfu.  These were the top four names that came up in the search engine.

But how do all these companies stay connected with the millions of netizens today?  Social media plays a large role in how a business communicates with its consumers, and as the list below shows, PassKit and Passdock have integrated themselves well with social media.

While difficult to fully assess a fan base of a B2B service, we can take a proxy by looking at the number of followers they have on Twitter.  PassKit came out on top, with 265 followers, followed by Passdock with 147, PassRocket with 136, Passfu with 69, and PassSlot with 18.

After browsing through each website and testing out what they had to offer, the author reached certain conclusions on the brand identity.  Namely, whether their brand or website seems professionally built, whether it looks like they’ve spent time enhancing the appeal or usability of their website, and whether they felt trustworthy, and likely to be around in the future.  The matrix below summarizes the brand identity (ranging from basic to professional) and target audience (ranging from personal to business) for each company.

 

Background, Company Info, Management

The background and track record of the owning company can be a good indication of the professionalism and innovation of the Passbook services being delivered. Knowing who’s behind the business and the managements’ experiences can determine the future success of their venture. All of the businesses are owned by a parent company, listed below, along with the age of the respective companies.

The majority of the companies have had previous exposure to app development and creating mobile solutions for businesses, like Passsource, Passdock, Passfu, and Passslot.  The others have slightly different backgrounds.  PassTools, on one hand, was the partnership of an entrepreneur and software engineer, and their parent company is backed by a large number of investors.  The people behind PassPages have exposure to supply chain, business process management, and electronic commerce.  PassKit’s leadership team was involved in banking, process, technology, and enabling businesses with operational efficiency; their parent company Anatta has been around the longest.  So we’ve got very business savvy people and they have designed these tools with the knowledge acquired through their work previously.