iBeacon, Eddystone, Bluetooth, IoT sensor beacons, apps, platforms
We have a new article on Beacon Implementation Types. It covers using beacons for iBeacon, Eddystone URL, Eddystone UID/EID, sensing, tracking and GPIO.
As the article mentions, these implementation types aren’t mutually exclusive as some beacons can transmit multiple types of data.
If you are learning about Beacons, Stephen Statler has just made available the slides from his training course, “An Introduction to Bluetooth Beacon Technology”:
Some Beacon Usecases
The site for the forthcoming The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Beacosystem book has a new video interview with Jeff Russakow, CEO of Gimbal. Here are some insights from the interview.
Most beacon projects need an app. Gimbal is partnering with companies such as Shazam to get Beacon detection working on larger numbers of phones and then convincing those users to install a more specific app for a for more immersive experience. This made us wonder whether Eddystone-URL/the Physical Web could also provide this function. Could Eddystone URL be used to convince the user to install a specific app for a for more immersive experience?
Jeff talks of providing experiences rather than coupons. Experience is not a coupon. It’s important to know your customer (through context, including via beacons), before pushing coupons.
The video mentions some interesting usecases for banks. There are also a large range of things that can be done automatically for users when they reach a location. Beacons can also be used to provide analytics. Not analytics about triggered coupons or experiences but web analytics for the physical world. Simply knowing where people are and what they are doing can aid other business processes.
The conclusion is that beacon technology is relatively mature but under-commercialised. It offers new, varied opportunities, especially outside the marketing world. We agree with Jeff’s view is that industry could do with more thought leadership.
The SD Times has a new article, by Alexandra Weber Morales on Why developers are sitting pretty for IoT.
The article explains how mobile developers such as ourselves are moving to the IoT and how beacons are part of the IoT. Other important areas for IoT are (big) data and security. The article concludes with several ways to get started and explore the IoT.
You might also like to read an article on Beacons and IoT that we wrote on LinkedIn last January.
We now have a limited number of iB004 PLUS beacons in stock with an additional SHT20 temperature/humidity sensor. The iB004 is one of the most commonly used (and re-branded) beacons and the ‘PLUS’ part means it has a larger CR2477 battery rather than the CR2450 in the original iB004. The larger battery means there’s a longer 100m (vs 70m) range and longer battery life.
The temperature/humidity version has a small hole in the top to allow the environment, external to the case, to be sensed.