What a Gamble! Startup Passjoy.com Announces Enhancements for Apple Mobile Payment System, Before It's Even Released

Pleasanton, CA, September 06, 2014 --(PR.com)-- “We’re all going to a bar to watch the Apple event and see if our 2 years of work has paid off.” That’s the plan outlined by Jim Bonner, VP Marketing for a startup Passjoy.

He’s referring to Apple’s September 9, 2014 event, where tech pundits like Cnet.com and Venturebeat.com predict that Apple might announce a new mobile payments system. Passjoy is releasing a new product designed to supercharge the marketing, promotions, and customer loyalty components of this rumored mobile payments system.

Because of Apple’s famous secrecy, Passjoy’s team had to build their product based entirely on guesswork and a testing in the field with prototypes.

Passjoy’s technology, code-named Zila, merges Apple’s Passbook coupons and loyalty card product with social media and advertising networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The result is a rich media brand card is designed to help retail, apparel, and consumer product brands build relationships with new mobile consumers.

Passjoy’s prediction is that Apple’s system would combine payments, an impulse- buy merchant locator for restaurants, iBeacon location devices, the always-popular mobile apps, and finally, Passbook as a tool for big clothing and grocery brands to get new customers in the door and build loyal relationships.

Passjoy’s Zila server helps that happen. Big brands can use it to supercharge Passbook, creating brand cards the customers can grab easily and keep in their wallets for several years, with iBeacon and GPS-triggered location popup offers and synchronization with social media. “Passbook lets consumers save dozens of cards for their favorite brands, without taking up memory space, but also needs no programming by the vendor, so it’s extremely inexpensive to start with. It also has location-based messaging and push notifications.” says Bonner.

The technology was first developed by a group of former retail executive and further refined by teams of college students in hackathon-style efforts in local cities.

Passjoy is offering a self-guided demo for retailers who want to test it on their own phones, at their website: www.passjoy.com/merchant

Will the efforts of these teams pay off or be dashed? “We’ll find out Tuesday” says Bonner. “It’s going to be exciting either way.”