By this logic, I'm glad Google does not limit Android development only to Chromebooks!

Are chromebooks even viable android dev machines?

Google doesn't make their wallet available to iPhones. They don't even make their wallet available to open-source Android. It requires GMS which is only (legitimately) available to commercial Google partners.

But you can develop for it on any desktop computer.

Hell, google wallet will accept pdfs so you can just make your own pretty pass in photo shop and just host it in there. No need for a fancy developer certificate or rendered barcodes.

Of all the examples to drive that point home, not sure an Adobe product is the best one to choose.

OK, it also accepts jpegs and bitmaps so feel free to use MS paint to make yourself a snazzy retro pass and add it to google wallet without any developer certificate required!

There are apps that allow using Apple-formatted passes on other operating systems as well.