

Fun With iBeacon - knowbody
http://andreamazz.github.io/blog/2014/07/01/fun-with-ibeacon/

======
localhost3000
Been doing some iBeacon dev and deployments for about 8 months. The estimote
hardware is just outrageously expensive compared to what you can source from
China with little effort. As in, 3-4x the cost. If you're just doing simple
BTLE proximity I don't know why you'd need a $30 beacon (I guess they have
some other sensors built into their beacon as well?)...if you're making a toy,
fine, but if your intent is to deploy thousands (or even dozens, really) of
beacons it just doesn't make any sense. I suspect in a year's time generic
hardware will be had at < 1/10th the price of an estimote.

~~~
jimiasty
Hi, this is Jakub, co-founder & ceo of Estimote. Yes, you are right - there
are additional sensors into each Estimote Beacon like temperature &
accelerometer. You can read more about them here:
[http://blog.estimote.com/post/87918401035/firmware-update-
ac...](http://blog.estimote.com/post/87918401035/firmware-update-activating-
accelerometer-temperature)

The challenge with cheap, Chinese beacons is that beacon deployments in
general are site-specific at the moment. They require configuration, enabling
security, calibration, etc.

We sell currently Dev Kits that consist of 3 beacons as well as free iOS &
Android SDK, responsive support, 20K+ developers community portal, cloud-based
fleet management tool and more.

Each beacon is in fact tiny computer with ARM processor, flash memory and
sensors. Thanks to our iOS app you can configure range of the beacon, optimize
battery life and security. We update our firmware on monthly-basis so even if
you bought beacons 6 months ago you can download the latest version over-the-
air and enable sensors and new tech and there is more to come soon.

We all agree that beacons will be everywhere in the future and deployed at
scale. The fact is that beacons cost will be still tiny part of the budget
dedicated to build the context-aware app. We have partnered with many
companies like Knoll to build such apps
([http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/17/estimote-knoll-partner-
to-b...](http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/17/estimote-knoll-partner-to-bring-
ibeacons-into-office-space-planning/)) and believe the value is in the
underlying software delivered together with high quality hardware.

~~~
localhost3000
I appreciate what you guys are doing and get that you're here to make a profit
etc but even now at this super early stage the market for beacon hardware is
so competitive that you've totally priced yourself out for people like me.
I'll be deploying >1000 beacons this year. Beacons take about 30 seconds to
configure using a configuration app (of which there are many). The biggest
cost in doing a deployment is literally transporting the thing to it's
location and placing it. The hardware should cost next to nothing (which it
will pretty soon). The real value, like you've said, is in the services
running atop the hardware. Just my opinion... That said, I'm interested in
hearing what a partnership looks like w/ you guys since, as I said, I am
deploying many beacons this year and for the foreseeable future.

~~~
bravo22
We're about a month away from releasing really inexpesnive iBeacons w/
sensors, ARM, etc. -- sub $10.

You can program them to do additional processing if you want. What's your
email address? Would love to have you as part of our beta.

~~~
johnweez
Could I get some more info on this as well? jar3737@gmail.com

~~~
bravo22
Sure.

------
coreymgilmore
Great to see some more public development around the iBeacon. Yesterday,
Panic, showed us their project for a "punch clock" system:
[http://www.panic.com/blog/punchclock-fun-with-
ibeacons/](http://www.panic.com/blog/punchclock-fun-with-ibeacons/)

I am very excited to see where this development proceeds. The usefulness is
somewhat like geofencing but for smaller areas and much more accurate since
the range of the iBeacon is so small (vs GPS).

~~~
keehun
It'd be cool if Panic could clarify a point made in this article which states
that delay of detecting whether or not the device has left a region is around
10-15 minutes. Seems like a sizable chunk of time for a clock-in-out app.

~~~
caruana
The article was pointing out that was one of the cons to iBeacon with iOS 7.0
but seems to have been upgraded to a few seconds in iOS 7.1 ... maybe panic
requires iOS 7.1?

------
Linell
I recently read an article about a university using iBeacons to help fans
navigate their way around stadiums, among other things. The possibilities for
stuff like this are just really cool.

[http://msbusiness.com/blog/2014/07/08/ole-miss-offering-
new-...](http://msbusiness.com/blog/2014/07/08/ole-miss-offering-new-system-
sports-
fans/#utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MBJ+E-Bulletin+%e2%80%94+Cruz+backs+runoff+investigation%3b+tea+party+group+calls+Cochran+%27scum%27&utm_content=Ole+Miss+offering+new+beacon+technology+for+sports+fans)

~~~
jimiasty
We curate a list of applications and case studies of beacon deployments:
[https://community.estimote.com/hc/en-
us/sections/200364446-V...](https://community.estimote.com/hc/en-
us/sections/200364446-Video-Use-Cases)

There is fun stuff from quadrocopter 3d positioning till contact-less
payments.

------
lnanek2
For Android people, there's a very good library here:
[http://developer.radiusnetworks.com/ibeacon/android/index.ht...](http://developer.radiusnetworks.com/ibeacon/android/index.html)

And here is an example of using it on Google Glass to trigger various
experiences at Airport beacons like parking, security, and checkout that I
wrote for a hackathon:
[https://github.com/lnanek/WearableTraveler](https://github.com/lnanek/WearableTraveler)

Some of the American Airlines employees at the event mentioned installing
hundreds of iBeacon in a terminal, so you can expect them to actually be out
in the wild.

------
chuck8088
So, if I build something using iBeacon, what do I for android users, laugh?

~~~
Ysx
iBeacon is an Apple-defined BLE protocol - there's no reason you can't use it
on Android, and we build apps that do exactly that.

~~~
fuziontech
Estimote has an android API that is very similar to their iOS implementation.

[https://github.com/Estimote/Android-SDK](https://github.com/Estimote/Android-
SDK)

------
sos100
I think it's important (for everyone) to clarify that Beacon DevPacks
(typically 3 Beacons, SDK, etc.) are different to Beacon Production Orders
(I'd like 2000 beacons for my set of stores). Pricing for the former is
generally around $20 or so per beacon, while the 1000's tend to drop off
rapidly. Just my 2 cents. (Sean @localsocial)

------
bhowden
Interesting discussion. If you're looking for a software platform that sits
over your hardware you should check out Lighthouse:
[http://lighthousebeacon.com.au/](http://lighthousebeacon.com.au/) \- allows
you to control content delivery and includes advanced analytics.

------
yresnob
we use these primarily but have used others including estimote since 2013...

[https://www.gimbal.com/gimbal-proximity-
beacons](https://www.gimbal.com/gimbal-proximity-beacons)

less than 5 dollars each for series 10 and a security model that folks should
seriously look into IMO...or u can use iBeacon configuration.

Originally by Qualcomm so u know the hardware is solid.

------
razrunelord
Does this only work from an iOS test device? Not from the simulator?

~~~
jimiasty
You can also simulate Estimote Beacons just by downloading the app from App
Store:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/estimote/id686915066?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/estimote/id686915066?mt=8)

Tap "beacons" and hit "turn this device into an iBeacon". Works for any BLE-
enabled iDevice which is iPhone4S+

------
vinhboy
Does Apple sell any transmitters?

~~~
GuiA
Not at the moment.

