Samsung has been fairly quiet at this year's Mobile World Congress, having only announced its new Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet so far. Today the company added to its list of new MWC products, though, with the introduction of a new app called Samsung Wallet. Shown off at the Samsung Developer Day event, the new Wallet app allows users to store tickets, coupons and membership cards inside it. The Verge notes that passes and cards stored inside Samsung Wallet can show a bar code for easy scanning, and the app is able to update passes and tickets with new information as well as notify users about a card that can be used based on time and location info.
The Samsung Wallet app is currently only available for developers to download so that they can investigate the SDK and API and begin to integrate support for Wallet into their apps. There's no word yet on exactly when end users will be able to install Samsung Wallet, but it's said to be coming sometime in the near future. Samsung does note that it's already got several companies on-board with its new Wallet app, such as Walgreens, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Expedia and Lufthansa.
Obviously one of the first things that jumps to mind when hearing about Samsung Wallet is Apple's Passbook app, which was introduced with iOS 6 last year and features much of the same functionality. We've certainly seen companies introduce new features that are influenced by something that's already available on another device or platform before, and I'm sure that this won't be the last time that it happens.
Regardless of the similarities between Samsung's Wallet and Apple's Passbook, this new app looks like it could be pretty useful for owners of Samsung hardware that are interested in lightening the load of their (physical) wallet a bit, especially if more companies and apps gain support Wallet support. A quick video showing Samsung Wallet in action can be found below to help you get an idea of how the app works while we wait for a public release.
Via The Verge, Samsung Developers, @stroughtonsmith, FrAndroidTube
