A Beacon For Mobile Payments and Digital Living

For all the tremendous buzz of mobile payments and proximity-based marketing generating around the retail world, it’s been slow going to engage with these technologies in everyday environments; but this sort of change does take time.

Beacon technology is equipped to move us further into this brave new space, where our digital and physical actions are more fluidly integrated.

Beacons utilize Bluetooth LE (low energy) to supply greater spatial accuracy more efficiently than GPS. Moreover, data transfer is both passive and immediate, providing information at key moments and locations in a store.

For the retail industry, Beacon has many forward-thinking and pertinent applications. Bluetooth aids customers in locating products, identifies the best deals for an individual based on their shopping history and time of day, provide location-specific offers (like what Macy’s is doing in their partnership with Shopkick) and makes mobile payments faster and simpler.

Beacons can also enhance an event experience. Strategically placed beacons enable individuals to receive information on the event they’re attending—musician bios for gigs, information on a painting in a gallery, history of a stadium or park. The owner or staff that manages the event or space receives information on the location of hotspots, blockages and dead zones, but must also be cautious to avoid spamming people.

iBeacon was released by Apple last year with its iOS 7 launch; it identifies nearby iOS 7 devices and transmits data to them. IPhones 4 and newer are also a beacon, thereby capable of transmitting information as well. Google also incorporated beacon technology into Android 4.3 and PayPal released its own beacon technology, enabling users to make hands-free payments in physical retail establishments.

Beacon technology provides the most universally accessible means for mobile device users and retail and other entertainment establishments to progress the mobile payments and proximity-based marketing experience with technology that’s readily available.