At least this is the thinking from J Schwan, CEO and founder of , which helps large companies such as W.W. Grainger, Northern Trust and Discover Card execute on their mobile strategy.

"By introducing Passbook with its couponing, rewards and other capabilities through the iPhone, Apple is laying the groundwork so they can introduce commerce capability," Schwan says.

Currently, there are 14 vendors, including Starbucks, Walgreens, Target, United Airlines and Fandango, participating in Apple's Passport program.

Despite Apple's big Passbook push, there is still confusion over what it actually does. Here's a typical scenario of how Passbook works: Go to the Apple AppStore, tap on Apps for Passbook and download, say, the Starbucks app. Create an account, along with a credit card, and put cash into a virtual Starbucks card. The virtual card, or pass, has a barcode.

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