iBeacon is a protocol and Beacons are Devices

iBeacon and Beacons

Get the basics

iBeacon is a protocol developed by Apple and introduced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in 2013. 

Several vendors have since made iBeacon-compatible hardware transmitters - typically called beacons - a class of Bluetooth low energy (LE) devices that broadcast their identification to nearby portable electronic devices such as smartphones,tablets, etc. These devices in turn perform specific actions based on the identification they receive.

Applications in the healthcare, fitness (FitBit is an example), beacons, security, and home entertainment industries are based on iBeacon Bluetooth Low Energy technology.

Beacons transmit a UUID(Universally Unique Identifier) picked up by a compatible app or operating system. The identifier and several bytes sent with it can be used to determine the device's physical location, track customers, or trigger a location-based action on the device such as a check-in on social media or a push notification.

Power Consumption

The Bluetooth LE protocol is significantly more power efficient than Bluetooth Classic. Several chipsets makers now supply chipsets optimized for iBeacon use. Power consumption depends on iBeacon configuration parameters of advertising interval in ms and transmit power. A study on different iBeacon vendors reports that battery life can range between 1–24 months. Apple's recommended setting of 100 ms advertising interval with a coin cell battery provides for 1–3 months of life, which increases to 2–3 years as advertising interval is increased to 900 ms.

Battery consumption of the phones is a factor that must be taken into account when deploying beacon enabled apps. A recent report has shown that older phones tend to draw more battery in the vicinity of iBeacons, while the newer phones can be more efficient in the same environment. An energy efficient iBeacon application needs to consider these aspects in order to strike a good balance between app responsiveness and battery consumption.

Use cases

Today’s mobile technology advancements are the key. With branded mobile apps coupled with location-based mobile technologies, you can create a compelling, satisfying, and exciting customer experience in ways not possible just a few months ago.

 • Surprise and delight customers with personalized welcome messages, promotions and discounts as they arrive at your stores.
 • When shoppers approach a new in-store display, automatically trigger pop-up videos, coupons or other information related to the merchandise.
• Help shoppers navigate the store with turn-by-turn directions so they can find what they’re looking for and not leave empty-handed.
• Engage shoppers when they are not at the store and encourage them to come back.

Wohooo Google is also into iBeacon comparison and much better

Apple’s iBeacon technology and Google’s Eddystone is this: iBeacon can only communicate with apps, whereas Eddystone works across apps and browsers

It would be interesting to see how the world will been changing their routes around IoT and Beacons will play a significant role in proximity based search and notification. 



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