Beacons used to sit on hilltops. They were lit to warn of impending disaster such as, in Elizabethan times, the landing of a Spanish invasion fleet. Now we will soon become accustomed to the twitter of the iBeacon as it determines we are standing in front of the special-offer bottle of wine in the supermarket. Apple’s inexpensive location checker is poised to revolutionise our shopping habits; indeed, it will revolutionise most of our habits. What is iBeacon? asks Alex Hearn, writing for The Guardian:
Sometimes the biggest changes in technology have the smallest beginnings. In the summer of 2013, Apple announced iBeacon, a nerdy-sounding feature of its new operating system that would “provide apps a whole new level of location awareness”.
It’s taken a few months to appear in the real world, but from CES to grocery stores – and, of course, Apple’s shops themselves – iBeacon now seems to be popping up everywhere.
Soon, iBeacon will be bringing the Internet of Things to your local high street and things will never be the same again.