Apple's iBeacon Gains 'Made For iPhone' Specification

[Michael Scrip]

iPhones having just 17% share of smart phone market worldwide, any company that wants to deploy iBeacon-like technology will look for Android customers first.

Oh... like developers do?

Don't forget... market share is just what was sold this past quarter. You're completely ignoring installed base.

There are a few hundred million iPhones out in the world right now.

What's that? There are over a billion Android phones? Well... how many of those phones are complete garbage? Or more to the point... how many of those billion Android phones have Bluetooth LE ?

Every iPhone since the 4S has Bluetooth LE... and that represents a TON of customers.

Don't get hypnotized by Android's huge market share numbers. It's been proven that iPhone customers spend more money. App developers obviously realize this... and retailers who install iBeacons will too.

So what if 5 Android phones get sold for every 1 iPhone? That doesn't matter when the 1 iPhone is actually more valuable.

 

[drewyboy]

Judging by how poorly Google Wallet did (with NFC in case nobody remembers), I'd expect Samsung to join the iBeacon bandwagon real soon. Along with whatever other surviving Android manufacturers there still are. (HTC? Are they still around?)

They already did. They filed for a patent on the 14th of this Feb. They're calling it "Flybell", a wireless beacon.

----------------------

As for those wondering if it works with other devices (android), the answer is YES. They specifically state "Other Bluetooth 4.0 enabled devices".

 

[gnasher729]

iPhones having just 17% share of smart phone market worldwide, any company that wants to deploy iBeacon-like technology will look for Android customers first.

Obviously in lilo's worlds, US companies ignore that iPhones are the market leader in the US smartphone market (and that even though a lot of the non-iphone smartphones are the cheapest of the cheap), because it makes so much sense for someone deploying iBeacons in a store, or an arena, or a museum in the USA to cater for the phones that the poor peasants in China are using.

 

[NT1440]

iPhones having just 17% share of smart phone market worldwide, any company that wants to deploy iBeacon-like technology will look for Android customers first. It would be better for everyone if there was a standard for this (and obviously there will be one). How will "Made for iPhone" thing fit into this picture? Will companies have to deploy separate beacons for iPhone and everything else? Companies may start with "Made for iPhone", then deploy both iPhone and standard-based solutions but in the end there will be only a standard solution and all Apple fans will be begging Apple to switch to it (like they did with USB 3 and on many other occasions).

Each android device has it's own bluetooth stack and chipset. Why in the world would a developer want to deal with all the complexity of dealing with such a fragmented market when iOS has 100+ million iBeacon capable devices ready to go with one consistent and easy implementation?

 

[lilo777]

Each android device has it's own bluetooth stack and chipset. Why in the world would a developer want to deal with all the complexity of dealing with such a fragmented market when iOS has 100+ million iBeacon capable devices ready to go with one consistent and easy implementation?

Did you hear about WhatsApp lately? $19 billion dollars figure will convince any developers who might still think that "iOS first" strategy is a thing of the past (I am not sure if there are any such developers left, actually).

----------

Obviously in lilo's worlds, US companies ignore that iPhones are the market leader in the US smartphone market (and that even though a lot of the non-iphone smartphones are the cheapest of the cheap), because it makes so much sense for someone deploying iBeacons in a store, or an arena, or a museum in the USA to cater for the phones that the poor peasants in China are using.

iPhone might be a market leader in US but iOS (on smart phones) is not.

 

[JHankwitz]

But you'd need an iPhone or iPad to use it right? If so... somehow I don't see it taking off massively since it leaves out the many Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry users out there.

But, Android, Windows Phone, and Blackberry users don't spend as much money as iPhone users. iBeacon is being targeted to the right market, as long as there isn't excessive SPAM, which would instantly kill the whole concept in it's tracks.

 

[gotluck]

Ibeacons are cross platform, or at least I'm sure android can use them.

 

[Ries]

if the iBeacon transmitters are cheap enough, I can see a lot of use for this for all platforms.

Even in home use.

Walk into bedroom, My phone could automagically fire up plex and connect its controls to my bedroom TV

Walk into the kitchen and my phone could automagically start streaming directly to my kitchen stereo.

hop into my car, phone automatically becomes unlocked, turns on bluetooth and turns off Wifi

keep one in pocket. Phone keeps unlocked while within a few feet radius of me.

the concept behind iBeacon can have a lot of use.


and yeah, for museums and the like its a great idea too.
Back in 1999 I went to Alcatraz and took a guided walking tour with headsets. The headset was on a timed playback. you had to keep up with it. Or pause. you had to go in specific order to get the tour in correct order. You had to stay in one location long enough for the record to continue on to the next place cause you coldn't skip.

With iBeacon, They can tell you the exact exhibit you're standing in front of and beam the information / audio what not directly to your phone that way (or your phone goes and retrieves the correct tour info for that location)

Get sweater in bedroom, wtf, phone overrides wifes movie... Walk though kitchen on the way to work, stereo turns on and annoys family...

 

[starnox]

I make iBeacon apps. It's very useful for contextual stuff. MFi is a joke. Will make them so expensive. Estimote are a rip off at $30 a piece. MFi will be more. You can get them for a few dollars and they work just as good.

 

[HAMEYO]

iPhones having just 17% share of smart phone market worldwide, any company that wants to deploy iBeacon-like technology will look for Android customers first. It would be better for everyone if there was a standard for this (and obviously there will be one). How will "Made for iPhone" thing fit into this picture? Will companies have to deploy separate beacons for iPhone and everything else? Companies may start with "Made for iPhone", then deploy both iPhone and standard-based solutions but in the end there will be only a standard solution and all Apple fans will be begging Apple to switch to it (like they did with USB 3 and on many other occasions).

Stop WHINING.

 

[RicD]

Utilize?

Oh my, I missed the memo that must have stated, "we will now utilize utilize rather than utilize use".

 

[vomhorizon]

Did you hear about WhatsApp lately? $19 billion dollars figure will convince any developers who might still think that "iOS first" strategy is a thing of the past (I am not sure if there are any such developers left, actually).


iPhone might be a market leader in US but iOS (on smart phones) is not.

What does WhatsApp have to do with iBeacon and hardware? Is there even any connection? Even a distant one?

 

[candle]

It's going to be great for places like museums. I hate the fact that it's going to largely used for marketing, but when other knowledge based applications come into play it'll be great.

Imagine cities and towns (like Boston) having their own tours with historical information available to you on the fly, museums that replace the antiquated audio tours with informative and dynamic interactive information right on your phone or tablet.

There are many useful applications of iBeacon, lets just hope that it doesn't get drowned out by unimaginative ad agencies.

Unfortunately, even the non-commercial places are likely to have ads on the screen to connect to the users. Marketing people are drooling.

 

[Dave532]

Did you hear about WhatsApp lately? $19 billion dollars figure will convince any developers who might still think that "iOS first" strategy is a thing of the past (I am not sure if there are any such developers left, actually)

I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say here but WhatsApp was iOS first, then expanded to other platforms.

As I've mentioned before I work for a company that writes apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV's. iOS is still our most profitable platform and also tends to be quicker to develop for due to generally only needing to target the most recent two versions (iOS 6 + 7) and less hardware variations.

To do an Android version well will take longer as you've got to take into account that the vast majority of users will be using an older version and there's different vendor customisations to the software as well as loads of different hardware variations.

It'd be crazy to ignore Android but I can see why those who are starting out with limited resources start on iOS first and then if the idea becomes popular then produce an Android version.

We also have some Windows Phone apps but the only reason we do any Windows Phone development was because Microsoft initially subsidised it, making it worth our while to support their platform. Despite that Windows Phone is not a profitable platform for us but we've decided to keep going with it after our initial agreement with MS expires and maintain our existing apps in case the platform becomes more popular in future.

As for iBeacons I honestly can't see any benefit of them for the apps my company produce although they have come up in meetings as something that's being looked into. I think it's just management trying to be buzzword compliant. (I'm not saying iBeacons have no use in general, I'm just saying it's just no use for the apps we develop, none of them even ask for your current location. I look forward to see what other industries do with iBeacon.).

 

[springsup]

Interesting.

I came across this recently - we're about to start work developing an app for a zoo, so we've been considering a tour guided by iBeacons. It's not easy to find good information about deployment and capabilities, though.

There are quite a few devices out there which call themselves 'iBeacons' but which aren't actually iBeacon-compatible. That doesn't help.

Also, just to add to the chorus - yes, it is possible to locate iBeacons on Android. There are plenty of 3rd-party SDKs which are compatible with the standard. Here's one example. Given that, I see no reason why WP8 or BB could not support them, too.

 

[Four oF NINE]

Perhaps a few museums will avail themselves of this feature. My hunch is that it will be 99.9% on the commercial marketing side, alerting you to various sales at retail outlets.

It would have to be able to be turned on and off as easily as bluetooth for that rare moment I happen to be in a museum that's using this application for me to be at all interested.

Not at all interested in targeted commercials, at all. Pass.

 

[themoffster]

surely this only works on a device where blutooth is switched on?
i must have switched blutooth on on my phone about 4 times in 3 years

 

[Rogifan]

Obviously in lilo's worlds, US companies ignore that iPhones are the market leader in the US smartphone market (and that even though a lot of the non-iphone smartphones are the cheapest of the cheap), because it makes so much sense for someone deploying iBeacons in a store, or an arena, or a museum in the USA to cater for the phones that the poor peasants in China are using.

I'd be curious to see a list of all the apps that were Android first. Or are available only on the Android platform (and not because Apple won't allow them on the App Store).

 

[sulpfiction]

But you'd need an iPhone or iPad to use it right? If so... somehow I don't see it taking off massively since it leaves out the many Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry users out there.

No, you don't need an iPhone or iPad...Any device with BTLE will work. Did you even read the article?

 

[Rootus]

Each android device has it's own bluetooth stack and chipset.

Incorrect. Bluetooth LE is part of the Android API.

 

[vomhorizon]

Incorrect. Bluetooth LE is part of the Android API.

I could be wrong about this but if i recall correctly it was android 4.3 that introduced built in support for BT LE...4.3 and higher versions only make up around 10% of android's own installed user base...

This provides a list of devices running android that can support Bluetooth LE as of the time the report was written:

Here are some of the more notable phones (we'll omit tablets given the use case scenario) with the hardware to support the Nike FuelBand and FuelBand SE:
Samsung Galaxy S III
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
Samsung Galaxy Note II
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
LG Nexus 4
LG Optimus G
LG Optimus 4X
LG G2
HTC One
Not only are these some of the most high-end devices of their respective product lines (you know, the kind that might appeal to the same segments as Apple hardware), they're also some of the best-selling phones out there. Even if you restrict the numbers to the GSIII, GS4, Note II, and Note 3, we're talking about an estimated userbase of more than 120 million people. 120 million potential customers that Nike is ignoring in the name of its "experience."

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/1...app-ignores-all-the-phones-with-bluetooth-le/

Now a 120 million installed userbase doesnt look like 80+% of the smartphone market share Apple sold close to 150 million iPhones in 2013 most of which were 4s's, 5's, 5s's and 5c's (all bluetooth LE enabled)..In 2012 apple sold a ton of 4s's and 5's as well. Its highly likely that the current user base that uses bluetooth LE has more iPhones than android smartphones..

 

[JonMorgan]

"Specifications" are vague but promising.

Based on a lot of comments here as well as on just about any article on beacon's in retail, trust is slim that brands will not just bomb people with marketing messages. I'm hoping that Apple steps up as a leader in defining the proper use of this tech much like the CAN SPAM Act of 2003 did for email. If not, a couple bad seeds (brands) will ruin it for those that do it right.

I hope Apple is defining a proper use protocol as part of this certification.

 

[TheHateMachine]

Judging by how poorly Google Wallet did (with NFC in case nobody remembers), I'd expect Samsung to join the iBeacon bandwagon real soon. Along with whatever other surviving Android manufacturers there still are. (HTC? Are they still around?)

I guess it depends on where you live, here in Houston and the surrounding areas there are NFC readers at registers everywhere. All the new credit card swipe machines have a tap reader on them. Even my hospital has a NFC reader on its vending machines that I personally use all the time.

But hey... don't let facts get in the way. Judging by your demeaning post you are just going to dismiss them all anyways.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I could be wrong about this but if i recall correctly it was android 4.3 that introduced built in support for BT LE...4.3 and higher versions only make up around 10% of android's own installed user base...

Now a 120 million installed userbase doesnt look like 80+% of the smartphone market share Apple sold close to 150 million iPhones in 2013 most of which were 4s's, 5's, 5s's and 5c's (all bluetooth LE enabled)..In 2012 apple sold a ton of 4s's and 5's as well. Its highly likely that the current user base that uses bluetooth LE has more iPhones than android smartphones..

Exactly. That's one thing that people forget when talking about Android.

They automatically say "ZOMG Android 80% market share!!!!"

But "Android" is a bunch of different things. It consists of flagship phones... and super-cheap budget phones that we've never even heard of. It also means any number of different versions of the Android OS. And in this case... different hardware capability.

Earlier I read a post that said Apple was at a disadvantage with iBeacon because the iPhone only had 17% market share.

Well... it doesn't look like that will be a problem at all... considering most of "Android" can't do Bluetooth LE.

iPhone customers are a much more valuable target anyway... no matter what percentage of the market they happen to be.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Did you hear about WhatsApp lately? $19 billion dollars figure will convince any developers who might still think that "iOS first" strategy is a thing of the past (I am not sure if there are any such developers left, actually).

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13...-cents-per-app-android-users-pay-just-6-cents

http://www.news.com.au/technology/i...oid-users-report/story-fn5sd1vk-1226754037942

http://techland.time.com/2014/02/21/ios-vs-android-2:

So it isn’t rash to declare that we’ve reached the point where the reasonable conclusion is that market share alone is not the overriding factor. A few factors which help explain why iOS keeps its app edge come to mind:

• iOS users are more app-happy and free-spending than Android users. There are plenty of stats saying that’s the case, such as this one and this one. That makes iOS a more attractive market even though it’s got fewer bodies than Android.
• Supporting multiple platforms is tough. Many of the most interesting apps come from tiny startups that pretty much don’t have the option of releasing two ambitious pieces of software at the same time. Something’s gotta give, and what gives is nearly always Android. Even big companies with lots of resources — such as Facebook, which released Paper as an iPhone exclusive — can’t do everything all at once. Which makes it that much tougher for Android to have a shot at pulling even with iOS, let alone breezing past it.
• Developing for Android is a hassle. The obvious obstacle is the challenge of supporting a bevy of devices from different manufacturers, with varying specs and hardware features, running different variants of the operating system. But even without that factor, I’ve chatted with many coders who say it’s just harder to get a slick app up and running on Android than it is with iOS. How hard? Maybe twice as hard.
• Sometimes the second platform a developer supports is the iPad. Such as the e-mail app Mailbox, which originated on the iPhone, and then arrived in a version nicely rethought for the iPad’s larger display. A year later, an Android version is still a to-do list item for Mailbox’s creators. Might it have shown up faster if there was no such thing as an iPad?
• In the U.S., Android isn’t the runaway market-share champ. This country remains the single most important producer of smartphone apps, and Google, though ahead, isn’t creaming Apple here. In Comscore’s latest numbers, for instance, Android has 51.5 percent share and iOS has 41.8 percent. That reflects a small dip for Android and an uptick for iOS, an inconvenient truth for anyone who argues that Apple’s operating system is on an inexorable march towards irrelevance.
• iOS has a cultural advantage in Silicon Valley. As far as I can tell, the majority of the tech execs who decide how to allocate development resources are still iOS users, personally. If they were all required to give up their iPhones for six months in favor of the Android device of their choice, it might change their perspective.

http://www.findingoutabout.com/android-users-spend-significantly-less-time-on-apps

However, despite the edge in market share, the average Android users only spend approximately 70% of the time in apps as an iOS user. No wonder most developers prefer to start projects for iOS.

http://blog.flurry.com//bid/97860/t...per-look-into-market-share?source=Blog_Email_

A second possible reason for why Android’s share of the app market lags its share in the device market is that the fragmented nature of the Android ecosystem creates greater obstacles to app development and therefore limits availability of app content. Hundreds of different device models produced by many manufacturers run the Android operating system. App developers not only need to ensure that their apps display and function well on all of those devices, but they also need to contend with the fact that most devices are running an old version of Android because the processes for pushing Android updates out to the installed base of Android devices are not nearly as efficient as those for pushing iOS updates to iOS device owners.

The final possible explanation for the differences in device and app usage shares relates to the first two. It is that the arguably larger and richer ecosystem of apps that exists for iOS feeds on itself. iOS device owners use apps so developers create apps for iOS users and that in turn generates positive experiences, word-of-mouth, and further increases in app use