Pointpal's customer loyalty platform is used by retailers including Bakers Delight, Oporto, Subway and Thomas Dux, and the company offers apps for iOS and Android as alternatives to the traditional loyalty cards.

The company has now announced its intention to be one of the first Australian providers to work with Apple's Passbook.

Passbook - a new feature in the forthcoming iOS 6 - is designed to replace boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, and more.

Apart from reducing the need to stuff your wallet or purse with paper and plastic, Passbook is time and location based, so it automatically presents relevant items on the iPhone's lock screen.

That approach seems much more convenient than unlocking the phone, opening an app and then selecting the appropriate card or voucher.

"We intentionally built an enterprise-grade platform so we could deliver real-time loyalty data from within a secure, flexible and scalable environment – and have the capacity to harness new technologies and developments to improve a user's experience," said Tony Nguyen, co-founder and chief technology officer of Pointpal.

"Apple Passbook is a great example that justifies that decision."

Advantages of the Pointpal system for retailers and brands include the sophisticated analytics as well as real-time data.