Lowdown: Proximity beacons
Nick Hirstadam&eveDDB
Proximity beacons have been in the news since the end of last year, when people started writing about Apple's iBeacon, then in development. Since then, competition has appeared and trials have flourished. So now's the time to take a closer look.
Proximity beacons are small, low-cost transmitters/receivers. They use a low-energy implementation of Bluetooth 4.0, which means the devices can be placed almost anywhere, with no need for mains power, for a couple of years. Their range varies between 100 and 200 feet.
iBeacon technology is Apple's, but it doesn't sell the hardware. This...