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FCC Filings Reveal Apple's First-Party iBeacon Hardware
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Sometimes, after reading an article like this, I have to pause and just process how amazing it is that we live in a time in which something small enough to fit in the palm of your hand can accurately display the line width of a lowercase 'L'…
Gone are the days of guessing and on-the-fly calculations!
Gone are the days of guessing and on-the-fly calculations!
Before looking at the size of the diameter, I assumed it was the iWatch lol. But it couldn't be 5inches! 
Don't know about AirPlay, did they ever suggest that would be open, I have no idea, don't recall reading that? Facetime, yes that was supposed to be open (Steve Jobs 2010) then they ran in to licensing issues, had to change the model to be peer-server-peer instead of peer-peer and there were comments at the time that Apple wasn't going to run server farms for the benefit of the world because it costs a shedload of money. Perhaps when the patent expires ...
There's nothing that proprietary about iBeacon, it's BTLE advertising. The only thing which is apple-specific is the manufacturer id in the advertising packet which is theirs. Perhaps that causes an issue which requires Apple to license the usage but I don't know near enough about Bluetooth licensing rules to do more than random guessing.
I'll go find the original WWDC session and listen to it again, I'm fairly sure at the time it was supposed to be a public spec released within weeks, but perhaps they never said public.
IBeacon is an Apple trademark and implementation but there is nothing that stops any device from receiving iBeacon messages so long as it has Bluetooth 4.
Airplay was never meant to be open. FaceTime was announced as open but has not been implemented on any non ios devices. All FaceTime standards are also open so it is not clear if Apple doesn't want to spread FaceTime or is it other developers who are hesitant.
Ow, my brain hurts.
How about, "Whether Apple will actually launch iBeacon hardware is unknown, but the product could integrate with the company's other platforms and services."
The problem with Apple is that they never want to release anything very cheaply.
Oh hello, time traveller from 1998.
Yeah, you have a lot to catch up on here in 2014, but one of those things is that Apple abandoned that whole not-made-here mentality a very long time ago. They will occasionally break with the rest of the industry in terms of hardware if they see something that will work better for their product but it's no longer a religious thing. You should probably be aware of that.
No praying necessary; Apple will probably implement something whereby you simply tap 'No thanks!' when walking into a store, and no other store of the same chain will message you again unless you change some settings.
Simple math:
5.46" is over 138 mm. Dimensions on the drawing indicate the device is about 60 mm, which converts to an overall dimension of less than 2.5 inches. So, you're close.
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Based on this MacRumors report, iBeacons seem to be on a fairly fast adoption path:
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/07/10/mlb-ibeacons-second-phase/
iBeacons won't spread if they cost a fortune to implement. Apple's "low marketshare, high profit margin" thing won't work when they're trying to spread a standard.
a) overpriced is a matter of opinion. Some may find value and price equitable.
b) I've never known a for profit business that didn't try to lock in consumers beyond a primary purchase. It's how they stay in business.
I don't see it costing a fortune, especially if Apple isn't the only hardware supplier. It's more likely that they offer a premium implementation.
Don't you worry. Either Google will copy it and call it Android/Chrome something or Samsung will copy it and call it S-something.
iBeacon to operate at 2.4ghz? Does no one at Apple see a problem with this? Not only does water resonate at this frequency to block any signal (think high humidity areas and outside venues where it may be foggy, sprinkle or rain), but a lot of businesses use internal comms and wifi modems on this frequency.
I would have picked anything other than 2.4ghz.
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Why would Google want to copy something so limited when they already have geo-fencing and pay pass built in? Both are more robust and don't need any additional hardware to be built, maintained, installed and paid for. iBeacon is another Maps failure in the making.
I would have picked anything other than 2.4ghz.
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Don't you worry. Either Google will copy it and call it Android/Chrome something or Samsung will copy it and call it S-something.
Why would Google want to copy something so limited when they already have geo-fencing and pay pass built in? Both are more robust and don't need any additional hardware to be built, maintained, installed and paid for. iBeacon is another Maps failure in the making.
Well, considering Apple's strict control or closed-ness with:
- AirPlay
- Lightning
- Face Time
- iMessage
- App Store
- all their operating systems
Apple isn't on a course for allowing other hardware suppliers to do this.
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Don't you worry. Either Google will copy it and call it Android/Chrome something or Samsung will copy it and call it S-something.
But that IS the reason to worry. Apple starts ahead and ends up behind, just like AirPlay and Chromecast.
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Yeah, that's the reason I wasn't able to restore my Apple TV for two weeks. Got lots of mini USB cables, no micro USB.
