Folks, don't know how many of you are aware of the "iBeacon" Apple incorporated into iOS7, it's really cool and going to revolutionize the way we shop. To see it in action click on the link "Releasing This Demonstration Video". Incorporating the paying for the product through the iPhone will greatly enhance this process, which is what Passport is able to do. I having used anything but my iPhone at a Starbucks for months, and I can instantly reload using PayPal. Isn't all this amazing!!
John With iBeacon, Apple is going to dump on NFC and embrace the internet of things At WWDC in June, Apple quietly announced iBeacon, one of the more prominent features of iOS 7. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, mentioned nothing about about it in the keynote Nor did Apple say anything about it during the iPhone event Tuesday. But I’m sure this is going to be a big deal, and startup companies like Estimote agree, announcing its support for Apple’s technology Tuesday and releasing this demonstration video. Why is that so? For a couple of reasons: it opens a door to new set of applications such as indoor maps and in-store marketing, it makes the internet of things a realty What is iBeacon? Using Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE), iBeacon opens up a new whole dimension by creating a beacon around regions so your app can be alerted when users enter them. Beacons are a small wireless sensors placed inside any physical space that transmit data to your iPhone using Bluetooth Low Energy (also known as Bluetooth 4.0 and Bluetooth Smart). For example, imagine you walk into a mall with an iPhone 5s (comes with iOS 7 and iBeacon). You are approaching a Macy’s store, which means your iPhone is entering into Macy’s iBeacon region. Essentially iBeacon can transmit customized coupons or even walking directions to the aisle where a particular item is located. It can prompt a customer with special promotions or a personalized messages and recommendations based on their current location or past history with the company. Smartphones that are in an iBeacon zone will benefit from personalized microlocation-based notification and actions. In the age of context, iBeacon can provide the information you needed when it is needed. For some time now, manufacturers and retailers have looked for the best ways to leverage smartphones as part of the in-store shopping experience. Experiments with QR codes and other programs have failed to yield the kind of mass market adoption that was originally envisioned. So why should Apple’s recent entry into this field, iBeacon, be any different? For starters, iBeacon leverages Bluetooth technology, comes standard in Apple’s iOS 7 operating system, and is backward compatible down to the iPhone 4. It requires nothing more than upgrading the phone’s operating system. If you have an iPhone, you can simply choose to turn on iBeacon, and you’re in business. For retailers, there is a cost, but it’s relatively minimal. Beacon transmitters have a range of 50 meters (or 2,500 square meters) and you can get three for $99. You can “light up” your store for, at most, a few hundred dollars without replacing your existing hardware and point-of-sale systems. What sets Apple’s approach apart from earlier efforts is that consumer adoption is built in from day one. But that’s not even the most interesting part—at least not from a retailer’s perspective. It’s what iBeacon can do to enhance the shopper marketing experience. Let’s start with the basics. With iBeacon, retailers (and manufacturers) can now provide detailed walking directions to the precise location in the store where a product is located. Digital circulars, including coupons, can now be transmitted—not to mention updated—in real time. And of course, as privacy advocates will point out, you can track the real-time traffic patterns by day, by minute, and by shopper profile. This is where things start to get interesting. Imagine having access to the majority of your customers’ shopping patterns each and every time they enter your store. What kinds of insights could you gleam from knowing how long your customers hover in an aisle or over a particular product line before they walk away or place an item in their shopping baskets? Let’s assume your customers have given you permission to link their loyalty card to their mobile phone (in exchange for offers and a better in-store experience). You now have their past shopping histories combined with real-time proximity in the store. You know what they bought on the last several visits, and you can begin to model, predictively, what each person is likely looking to buy in that aisle today. Think of the digital equivalent of “behavior targeting” meets in-store shopper marketing. When you start to overlay simple third-party data, such as today’s weather, you can begin to see entirely new patterns emerging and, in turn, direct your management team to contract or expand inventory of individual products based on these patterns. The winners will be the early adopting retailers who embrace iBeacon technology while continuing to “test and learn” the best ways to enhance the shopper marketing experience.
_______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list [email protected] http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
