Hack Day: iBeacons

Shops and malls are going to get pretty interesting with a relatively new type of technology that could help shoppers navigate around large stores, as well as improve the discovery of available offers in a store.

BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy or Bluetooth Smart) is a technology that was introduced as part of the main Bluetooth standard in 2010 and also included in the Bluetooth 4.0 specification. Apple’s recent announcement of iBeacons alongside OS 7.0 has introduced a number of new ideas to both developers and owners of large shops and businesses.

The standard has been available on iOS devices since the release of the iPhone 4s, and can be utilised on Android devices running version 4.3 and later. However, the market share of Android devices using 4.3+ is only around 4.2%, as measured on December 2, 2013, so the main focus has been primarily with iOS.

So with all of this in mind, I bought some beacons from Estimote to hack away and see what I could come up with: