The largest complaint about Passbook has to be that while its great that you can manage loyalty cards, tickets, and gift cards, you can't really buy things with it. It may look really cool the way it shreds documents, but its usefulness is still limited. That's okay, though, as its older sister Siri will be able to step in while Passbook works on its growth. 9to5Mac reports that when iOS 6.1 is released to the public, it will feature the ability to buy movie tickets.
Although the iOS 6.0.1 update was just made available to the public on Friday, developers are already seeing and testing out the beta version of iOS 6.1. As expected, it's featuring some updates for Maps.
Additionally, Siri will gain the ability to sell movie tickets. It will work through Fandango, already in use for movie fans to purchase tickets online. Siri will work with several different commands, such as asking it for two tickets to a certain movie, or being more precise and including the town or theater name and the approximate time you are looking to see it. 9to5mac even includes a screenshot of requests including “two tickets to that new Pixar movie.” This would lead me to believe you would also be able to ask for tickets for the new Johnny Depp movie or the new James Bond or Christmas movie.
Even beyond this, once you start adding in commands like this to Siri, it stretches the total usefulness of the service. It has to be able to go beyond buying movie tickets. Apple just needs services to link with them as partners, such as Fandango. Perhaps this means Passbook will someday be able to work in conjunction with Siri.Photo Credit: 9to5Mac
