American Express and Starbucks to hook up with Passbook by the end of the month

When iOS 6 launched last week, it included Apple's new Passbook application. Passbook uses barcodes to allow your phone to replace printed tickets or loyalty cards. For example, Major League Baseball recently announced that it would test Passbook as an alternative to printed tickets for four Major League teams. The companies that signed up with Passbook for its launch include such names as Fandango, Live Nation, Lufthansa and Ticketmaster. If that list seems a bit light, by the end of the month you will be able to add Starbucks and American Express to those allowing you to use the new application.

American Express will notify you whenever you have a transaction and will allow you to check your current balance and redeem reward points.Special deals can be sent to your phone from merchants near you as determined by the GPS on your phone. Suspicious charges can be sent to you immediately with AMEX asking you for a PIN number to confirm the charge.

Starbucks, which tweeted its inclusion in the Passbook lineup, will allow users to pay for purchases on Passbook using a Starbucks card. Back at WWDC, a demo for Passbook starred the coffee retailer.

source: VentureBeat via Engadget