Ripple's ledger design makes wallets primary objects in the system. This has advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is that there is a cost associated with each wallet, currently 20 XRP. It can be changed by consensus of the validators. One of the largest benefits of this scheme is that your wallet can have properties. For example, suppose you give out your wallet address to others so that they can pay you. And then suppose that you become concerned about the security of your key. With Ripple, you can change your account's key without changing the receiving address. This is only possible because your account is a real thing that can have real properties. Your wallet can also have properties associated with how you want to receive payments from others. For example, you can configure your wallet to describe how you receive payments denominated in fiat currencies like dollars and then others can pay you specifically the assets you want to receive.
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From @punwik