everything you always wanted to know about beacons
TRANSCRIPT
Everything you always wanted to know about Beacons...
...but were afraid to ask
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A beacon is a small device that uses a type of radio signal (Bluetooth Low Energy) to repeatedly announce its presence to anybody in the area that cares to listen. They don’t receive anything, they just send out their little signal over and over again so that people know they’re there.
A basic beacon packet comprises a UUID, a major and minor as well as a transmission strength indicator. These aspects allow the detecting device to identify exactly which beacon they’re detecting, and approximately how far away it is.
What is a Beacon?
Think of a beacon like a miniature lighthouse.
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So they aren’t actually sending me things or collecting data from me?No! Apart from sending out their identifying information they are completely passive.
Your smartphone does all the heavy lifting, controlled by whichever application you have installed that recognises that particular beacon.
Why is that useful? Anybody around with the right kind of device (almost all modern smart phones) can detect these beacons and be given tailored messages or experiences that are relevant to them and their location.
A Business Insider report projected that beacons will directly influence $4 billion in sales at top retailers in 2015. That number is expected to increase tenfold to about $44 billion in 2016.
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What kind of things can I do with beacons?IdentificationYou can deliver content to customers in an incredibly precise fashion. Research shows that while consumers are generally put off by mobile adverts, they are actually positive to them as long as the advert is relevant to their time and place. That’s exactly what beacons enable.
WayfindingHave you ever noticed how GPS doesn’t work indoors? You can use carefully positioned beacons so that anybody with a smartphone can find their way around with ease. You can guide customers to the product they’re looking for or help them find the bathroom.
PaymentsBeacons can enable your customers to pay for products on their smartphones through a digital wallet. The process is almost the same as completing a check-out in regular e-commerce and could be a crucial way of engaging with millennials who are used to shopping on-line.
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Are any big companies already using beacons? Yes! Apple in their Apple Stores, Macy’s in a nationwide roll-out of more than 4000 beacons, Virgin Atlantic in airports and even Major League Baseball have all completed successful pilots and deployed live beacon projects to their customers.
Major League Baseball mobile check-ins more than doubled during the season in which they first began using beacons.
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What’s the difference between a beacon and an iBeacon? iBeacon is Apple’s attempt to standardise how beacons work with their products; it’s a description of how the messages that beacons send out need to look in order to work with Apple products and not actually the devices themselves, although people will call them that. The important thing is that whether something is referred to as an iBeacon or a beacon, it works the same way and all types of devices can work with them. You don’t need to install two types of beacon to work with two types of smartphone.
iBeacon is technically a packet layout for beacon transmissions that’s owned by Apple. There are other packet formats, notably Eddystone developed by Google.
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Eddystone is the name of a lighthouse in Devon, UK.
How long do they last? Beacons were designed (using Bluetooth Low Energy), specifically in order that they don’t consume a lot of power.
They can operate in different modes, depending on how far you need them to send their signal, but if you are careful with your settings and you don’t need to broadcast past a few metres, your beacons will have power for up to 2 years.
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Are they secure? Based on the fact that the beacons themselves are just sending out regular identifying messages, they can be considered very secure.
The risks become greater when payments are involved, but the security implications are related to the smartphones and their users, not the actual beacons.
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Next instalment
The next instalment in our series will be arriving in February 2016…Everything you always wanted to know about Alternative Payments. This will include information about Apple Pay, so keep a look out!
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