“Estimote makes iBeacons in little polygon shapes with cool colors and custom designs,” Alex Heath reports for Cult of Mac. “Designed to communicate over low-energy Bluetooth, Estimote Beacons can be used to alert nearby smartphones of a specific deal when they enter a shop, for example.”
“What if different items for sale in that shop had their own iBeacons?,” Heath reports. “That’s the vision behind what Estimote is calling Stickers, small adhesive sensors that can be put just about anywhere.”
Heath reports, “As more and more companies adopt iBeacon technology, expect to start seeing these kinds of little beacons everywhere you go.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last December:
Apple’s Next Big Thing™ arrived in stealth mode right under everyones’ noses.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple and the omnichannel: 9 industries already using Apple’s iBeacon – July 29, 2014
Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor roll out Apple’s iBeacon tech across North America – July 28, 2014
Hundreds of London businesses are about to flip the switch on payments via iBeacons – June 19, 2014
inMarket: iBeacon increases in-store app usage, retention, and brand engagement – June 16, 2014
Google wants in on Apple Inc.’s iBeacon party – June 9, 2014
GE integrates iBeacon into new LED light fixtures, Walmart installing in stores worldwide – May 29, 2014
Walgreens and Walmart testing iBeacon, Motorola Solutions launches iBeacon marketing platform – May 7, 2014
Virgin Atlantic trials Apple iBeacon tech for iPhone users at London Heathrow Airport – May 2, 2014
New York City bars to use Apple’s iBeacon for pub crawl promo – April 28, 2014
New sunglasses with iBeacon notify you when lost, act as beacons in retail – April 28, 2014
Let’s hope the rampant proliferation of Nearables doesn’t become Unbearable.
Could be huge in finding children or pets..or it could be huge for creepers trying to stalk you in your vehicle..
Stalk you in your vehicle?
If they’re close enough to you to get a signal from the hidden beacon, just speak in a normal voice and tell them to go away.
They are long distance capable, no? The featurette mentioned you could ‘track your bike or tell if someone had moved it’. Presumably you are not at close distance partaking in either of those.
Endless potentials and this is only the 2nd generation…
By the way, this will not help with finding lost children or dogs since LE Bluetooth have limited range. I would hate the idea of having big brother readers all over so they can sense out of range stickers but setting aside the Big Brother/Sister issues aside anyone should be able to see the technology is moving towards the system known where everyone is and what they are doing all the time.
Maybe not kids or dogs, but definitely useful for picking up keys or other easily-lost things in the home. Bluetooth.com’s page for LE says about range, “Increased modulation index provides a possible range for Bluetooth low energy technology of over 100 meters.”
In real world use we shouldn’t count on even half that, but 50m is still enough to cover a typical house in the suburbs.
One for my KEYS, please.
Search for ” tile beacon”. I ordered 4 of them but they won’t ship for several more weeks. $20 ea or 4 for $60.
It’s really amazing how quickly tech is developing.
In the early 90s most of us we just starting to use computers and mobile phones were huge behemoths.
Now our phones are computers and the possibilities are endless.
Not a fan of the rock-like design, and because they are “stickers” maybe a smiley face, pink and white unicorn or picture of Steve Jobs’s head would be more wow-bang?
If I understand this properly…if I had one of these stickers on my keychain, I would never lose my keys again?
Apple should buy this company and own this technology.
Apple needs to let Estimote and the other iBeacon transmitter companies develop their products, compete, and flourish.