How iOS 8 Plans to Change the User Experience through iBeacon By Shamit Khemka
Introduction iBeacons are essentially ‘GPS for indoors’, which allow for personalised, micro-location –based notifications and alerts. One of the lower-key announcements that accompanied Apple's launch of iOS 7, they’re the Apple-branded version of an existing technology - Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons - which has been around for about 18 months and is already supported by the majority of recent Android handsets. With iOS 8, Apple wishes to make iBeacon rolling. Let's discuss how it's going to change the user experience...
1st - iBeacons use Bluetooth Low Energy For communicating with iBeacons utilize Bluetooth Low Energy, a new variant of Bluetooth technology that allows two-way communication between devices using a triangular pattern over shorter distances. This way,businesses can set up the iBeacon transmitters that have signals up to 500 feet away without Wi-Fi, GPS, or 3G/4G, and use much less energy to do it.
2nd - Apple is integrating iBeacons into its retail stores Apple introduced iBeacon at last year's WWDC with iOS 7. Since then, they have integrated it into 254 Apple retail stores to help with store events, Genius Bar appointments, and online orders. The service works with an app, which is available for download and detects users when they enter the store.
3rd - Companies want iBeacons for the big data Businesses and retailers now have a direct way to find out what customers are doing, and can pinpoint exactly where in the store they are doing it. Think of the opportunity for big data here -- a company can find out your microlocation, what you're looking at, how long you're looking at it, and maybe what you decided to buy at the last second instead.
4th - iBeacons are being integrated into LED lights General Electric is introducing LED lights that have Bluetooth LE for iBeacon functionality. Now, retailers can cut costs with these lower-energy lights and won't have to buy standalone beacons like the one from Estimote. Philips is also jumping on the bandwagon, piloting iBeacons in a their lights in a grocery store in Germany, so the lights can relay information to smartphones.
5th - Android can access iBeacons, but without interactive capabilities If an Android app has been created by an individual retailer, Android users can access the iBeacon platform, although it's only for Android 4.3 or higher. A special SDK must be downloaded by Android users to access the notifications and interactivity with iBeacon. To try to compete with Apple, Datzing was developed earlier this year specifically for Android devices, allowing any Android phone to do the same kinds of things that iBeacon can do.
Concluding Comments iBeacons big benefit is that it’s an accurate and compelling platform that unlike social media, can offer a whole array of creative uses if programmed correctly and utilized with great app development. iBeacons will be implemented in many more ways than this in the social sphere; however these are just some thoughts on how it could be achieved.
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