Just to confirm, iBeacons uses BTLE? I want to know exactly which radio(s) to turn off before walking into these places.
They do, but if you are really concerned about being tracked the cellular, GPS, and WiFi on your devices should be much more of a constant concern than a proprietor looking to sell you some wares whilst in a store. You will also want to get rid of any and all store discount and points cards.
Ooh, grocery stores will never do this. They’re designed to get you as lost as possible so you’ll buy more. They put the highest traffic items in the back so you’re forced to walk past everything else and go, “Say, mesquite flavor potato chips… What is mesquite? Maybe it’s made from mosquitoes…” No clocks, no windows, no easily accessible exits, and they rotate shelf content roughly once a month to keep people searching.
Competition will force change. Look what Costco/Amazon has done. Once a big grocery store adapts this everyone else will have to or face the consequences of being behind
C'mon guys... The potato chips are on the aisle end caps!
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">Competition will force change. Look what Costco/Amazon has done. Once a big grocery store adapts this everyone else will have to or face the consequences of being behind</span>
Gosh, I’d hope so.
I wrote a post a year or two back about how Apple could completely reinvent the entire concept of a store from front end to back and the supply chain in between, not to mention also reinventing and streamlining R&D for products themselves. I’ll never find it again, and I can’t remember what I said, but my thoughts on the matter haven’t changed since. Apple needs to do this. They’re the only company that has the power to get people to actually use such a system.
All your AI posts are logged (for a period of time). You can search them for keywords or access them by approximate date...
Wow. Okay, I knew AI’s search was spectacular, but this is incredible. Already found it. One word search: cashier. I can’t believe I remembered my use thereof.
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Right.
I mean, I can definitely see it being big in authentication… of purchases. Maybe PassBook will become the digital wallet I imagined it would have been initially. Take a picture of the UPC/QR code on a product on the shelf (and maybe this will get UPC kicked off products in favor of QR), put it in your shopping cart, walk to where the cash registers used to be (mommy, what's a cashier?), bag your stuff up (leave in a bin what you decided not to buy; the former cashiers now run customer service for people, answering questions and such, as well as returning these items to the proper shelves), confirm your purchase using your fingerprint, and WALK RIGHT OUT OF THE STORE.
When you leave the geofence for that store, your account is automatically billed for the amount. A receipt is sent to your iCloud address under an automatic smart folder "Receipts".
Of course, this requires tens of millions of retailers to get on board with the system, but it provides them instantaneous feedback as to what products sell best, what they need to buy, quantities, etc. And all this gets passed onto the manufacturer as well, so they will know INSTANTLY if a product is becoming a hit or should be discontinued.
Imagine how much money it will save!
Oh, and from a consumer standpoint, Apple will have made the former actions associated with stealing… legal. It's a neat, tingly feeling—one of suspense and forbiddenness—that customers will latch onto right away due to novelty, so being a part of the system will make retailers more desirable.
Imagine… on one of the windows of nearly every store in the country (heck, it would be proudly displayed on banners at first), right next to all the major credit card logos… would be the Apple logo.
Just have Apple add one cent to every transaction to cover management and power to the back end hardware. Finally the haters will have a real Apple Tax about which to gripe, but they'll make tens of billions. A month.
And
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
I agree. I certainly hope there's no dedicated "NFC hardware" in Apple's digital wallet implementation. It has been thrown around a little that they might use Bluetooth, and I certainly hope so, for many reasons.
First, Bluetooth's everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Any other system would have to be built out, and they're not gonna do that. It's just not gonna happen! If it's specialized hardware only on the iPhone, I won't be able to go down to my local grocery store and buy things with my phone for over a decade! And that's even only if the system catches on as a system!
Second, people know Bluetooth. I'm not talking users, I'm talking hardware creators. Accessory makers. They understand it already.
Third, Bluetooth makes it possible for EXISTING iPhones to get this feature, too! Having an installed base of users on DAY ONE will make Apple's version succeed. Having to buy more iPhones to do it… will take far longer.
I mean, okay, picture this. How's this for the future of purchasing:
You drive to the store. Your iPhone knows where you are and reminds you what you're supposed to get. Not only that, it tells you what aisle those things are in, because the store has networked with Apple and uploaded its product layout to them. So you go to the aisle and find what you want. Pick it up, hold up your iPhone, picture of the QR barcode that has replaced the old style barcode on packaging. Now your iPhone knows what it is (1). Read that footnote first, then continue. You read it? Good, continuing. Not only does your iPhone now know what it is, it's on your list now as 'in your cart', because it probably is physically in your cart by now. Do the same with all the other products you want, and then… walk out. Just walk out. When you reach the boundary of the store geofence, your account is charged for the amount of the products in your cart. Just like an Apple Store today, but with every store.
You want a revolution? They'll give you two. One for consumers, one for store owners. First, Apple has psychologically legitimized the behavior formerly known as stealing. It'll take a few years, but we will completely redefine what it means to buy something in a physical store. No more cashiers, no more cash registers, no conveyor belts, no self-checkout machines that never work. Take it, scan it, walk out. All yourself. And even in advance. Make your list of exactly the products you want, pay for it in advance, and don't even scan it in the store; just in, cart, out. Simple.
Second, since each store's inventory and product location is connected to Apple's servers for the purpose of helping customers find what they want and at the best price and where they want to find it, when a customer makes a purchase, that inventory is deducted from the store's immediately at point of purchase. So store owners can see in real-time at any given time what products from what brands are selling best. This can also be uploaded immediately to the product's manufacturers. Product testbeds can give results in weeks instead of months. Manufacturing can be scaled back on existing products selling poorly and scaled up to meet a temporary or permanent demand for others.
(1) Your iPhone now knows this product. It knows you want this product. So it looks around for better prices for this product and tells you if it's cheaper elsewhere or the same price for a greater quantity. Additionally, now that it knows you want this product, in the future when this product is on your list and you get to the store, your iPhone will tell you if this product is currently in stock at the store. Because the store has networked with Apple and allowed Apple devices to check its inventory! And not just Apple devices, ALL devices. You'll see why above.
So since there are two, there may be more. I guess I could keep looking.
EDIT: Now color coded for the big points I wanted to hit. R&D streamlining, changing the purchasing paradigm, networking of systems, and what Apple gets out of being the one to be managing all this back end.
?Some people have said Apple should open a bank. This is as close as they need to get to that, and really it nets them the same thing.
well crap. like others, i'm hoping that it will be used to help me find what i'm looking for. but instead, right out of the gate, it's being used to track me and market to me. no thanks.
It can't track you if you don't want it to. Neither you or your iPhone (out of the box) is a BLE beacon or an iBeacon.
If you run an app on your iPhone that detects beacons -- it can do that only -- and as far as anyone knows you or your phone are not there,
If you chose to advertise your [device's] existence by running an app advertising your location -- you can be tracked -- but it doesn't know who you are or what your device is... you are anonymous.
If you choose to identify your device and location, potentially you can earn points or credits towards purchases just for being there.
If you chose to identify yourself you can seamlessly make purchases without removing your wallet or credit card.
Yes, that's when they'll say Google really missed out on an opportunity. Buy AAPL!
Sorry, but Google is also jumping on the Beacon bandwagon as is every other big retailer, advertiser and data tracking company. iBeacons is just Apple's implementation. BLE-enabled Android and Windows phones will be tracked just as surely as iPhones, and all of them on a much more personal and identifiable level than we probably want possible if we stopped to think about it.
Remember when cookie's were considered an offensive and intrusive tracking tool? We'll end up longing for the days when we thought those were our worst privacy concern.
It depends on the App!
1) iBeacons are exclusive to Apple and do not provide any advertising data that can be used for tracking... An app just listens for iBeacons of interest and takes user-specified action when one is detected.
2) BLE beacons are a lower-level implementation and, likely, both advertise and listen. If they are advertising, they can be tracked -- but they need not advertise any device-specific or user-specific information... In that case they can only be tracked anonymously.
At the users choice, the BLE beacon can advertise the availability of device specific info -- things such as device type, temperature, orientation, battery-level, signal strength, etc. Still anonymous.
At the users choice, the BLE beacon could advertise the availability of user-specific and/od device-specific info -- but this is not likely or necessary... It can be encrypted, though,
An app on an Apple iDevice can use both iBeacons and BLE beacons -- the best of both worlds... and choose to "open the kimono" only to the extent that the user desires.
A shopping list is one thing, but this is the store talking over your screen, that can't go well. Apple doing it in an Apple store is one thing, but one of these other guys getting access to your information and attention like that strikes me as something entirely different - in a bad way.
As long as there's individual store opt-in I would think there's no problem.
It's all about the integration. I wouldn't mind if I was shopping in men's and a coupon came up, or a reminder if I had a gift card in passbook. I thought there was talk of integration in ball parks or something like that. To some extent the tracking is good if it enhances the shopping experience. Directs you to your size, or based on past purchases something new you might like. I never shop in stores that much, but it does seem like it could enhance the user experience.
well crap. like others, i'm hoping that it will be used to help me find what i'm looking for. but instead, right out of the gate, it's being used to track me and market to me. no thanks.
That logic I'll never understand.
First of all, it's not "tracking" you, it's just aware of when you enter a specific area. Second, it has to know this information if you want it to help you find something.
Furthermore...
1. You're in the store shopping, probably planning to purchase something.
2. You've installed the store's app on your mobile device.
3. You've opted in to allow the app access to your location data.
4. You've made lists of things you like/want.
If you're willing to do ALL of that, what the hell else is the store supposed to think you want?
"First of all, it's not "tracking" you, it's just aware of when you enter a specific area. Second, it has to know this information if you want it to help you find something."
This bit is not, necessarily, true! Your iPhone is aware of the iBeacon -- the iBeacon is not aware of your iPhone.
You can run an app on your iPhone that says "I am interested in the shirt department at Macys". The app listens for specific iBeacons. When you approach an iBeacon in the shirt department, the app recognizes this and takes appropriate action.
Appropriate action might be:
vibrate your iPhone and in some voice say: "Duh, you are at the shirt department"
via WiFi, look up the Macys web site shirt department to see what's on special and display it on the screen
It is unlikely that you would want to exchange this amount [more than 29 bytes at a time] of information with the iBeacon... You could, but you would be monopolizing the iBeacon and draining its power.
At no time do you need to advertise that you are there (and thus can't be located or tracked).
Every time you reload the page it generates a different UUID. There is a very, very low probability that any two UUIDs will be the same.
And here I am thinking that someone told me in yesterday's thread that there was no way to alter Android activations. Guess Schmidt can stick it to Google. Again. And again.
Wrong. I do it already with a shopping list app and its great.
'Wrong'. I love your overconfident proclamations.
A shopping list is one thing, but this is the store talking over your screen, that can't go well. Apple doing it in an Apple store is one thing, but one of these other guys getting access to your information and attention like that strikes me as something entirely different - in a bad way.
Sorry, you have a misconception of what an iBeacon is.
For purposes of your example an iBeacon is nothing more than an electronic sign on every product category, on every aisle in the store.
If you wish it could work like this:
the store publishes a floor plan of its store
you download the floor plan to your shopping list app
the app matches your shopping list to the locations of those product categories (iBeacons) in the store
you enter the store and the app recognizes an iBeacon
the app plots your location on the store map on your iPhone
based on your shopping list, the store map on your phone displays the location of the product categories of interest
as you navigate the store when you approach an iBeacon for a location of interest, your iPhone buzzes or blinks.
All this can be done without your shopping list app ever leaving the screen -- and you need not Bluetooth advertise that you are there, so the store cannot track you any more than it does now (store cameras, traffic treads, etc).
If you pay cash at checkout, the store has no access to any of your information!
Wow. Okay, I knew AI’s search was spectacular, but this is incredible. Already found it. One word search: cashier. I can’t believe I remembered my use thereof.
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">Right.</span>
I mean, I can definitely see it being big in authentication… of purchases. Maybe PassBook will become the digital wallet I imagined it would have been initially. Take a picture of the UPC/QR code on a product on the shelf (and maybe this will get UPC kicked off products in favor of QR), put it in your shopping cart, walk to where the cash registers used to be (mommy, what's a cashier?), bag your stuff up (leave in a bin what you decided not to buy; the former cashiers now run customer service for people, answering questions and such, as well as returning these items to the proper shelves), confirm your purchase using your fingerprint, and WALK RIGHT OUT OF THE STORE.
When you leave the geofence for that store, your account is automatically billed for the amount. A receipt is sent to your iCloud address under an automatic smart folder "Receipts".
Of course, this requires tens of millions of retailers to get on board with the system, but it provides them instantaneous feedback as to what products sell best, what they need to buy, quantities, etc. And all this gets passed onto the manufacturer as well, so they will know INSTANTLY if a product is becoming a hit or should be discontinued.
Imagine how much money it will save!
Oh, and from a consumer standpoint, Apple will have made the former actions associated with stealing… legal. It's a neat, tingly feeling—one of suspense and forbiddenness—that customers will latch onto right away due to novelty, so being a part of the system will make retailers more desirable.
Imagine… on one of the windows of nearly every store in the country (heck, it would be proudly displayed on banners at first), right next to all the major credit card logos… would be the Apple logo.
Just have Apple add one cent to every transaction to cover management and power to the back end hardware. Finally the haters will have a real Apple Tax about which to gripe, but they'll make tens of billions. A month.
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">And</span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">I agree. I certainly hope there's no dedicated "NFC hardware" in Apple's digital wallet implementation. It has been thrown around a little that they might use Bluetooth, and I certainly hope so, for many reasons.</span>
First, Bluetooth's everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Any other system would have to be built out, and they're not gonna do that. It's just not gonna happen! If it's specialized hardware only on the iPhone, I won't be able to go down to my local grocery store and buy things with my phone for over a decade! And that's even only if the system catches on as a system!
Second, people know Bluetooth. I'm not talking users, I'm talking hardware creators. Accessory makers. They understand it already.
Third, Bluetooth makes it possible for EXISTING iPhones to get this feature, too! Having an installed base of users on DAY ONE will make Apple's version succeed. Having to buy more iPhones to do it… will take far longer.
I mean, okay, picture this. How's this for the future of purchasing:
You drive to the store. Your iPhone knows where you are and reminds you what you're supposed to get. Not only that, it tells you what aisle those things are in, because the store has networked with Apple and uploaded its product layout to them. So you go to the aisle and find what you want. Pick it up, hold up your iPhone, picture of the QR barcode that has replaced the old style barcode on packaging. Now your iPhone knows what it is (1). Read that footnote first, then continue. You read it? Good, continuing. Not only does your iPhone now know what it is, it's on your list now as 'in your cart', because it probably is physically in your cart by now. Do the same with all the other products you want, and then… walk out. Just walk out. When you reach the boundary of the store geofence, your account is charged for the amount of the products in your cart. Just like an Apple Store today, but with every store.
You want a revolution? They'll give you two. One for consumers, one for store owners. First, Apple has psychologically legitimized the behavior formerly known as stealing. It'll take a few years, but we will completely redefine what it means to buy something in a physical store. No more cashiers, no more cash registers, no conveyor belts, no self-checkout machines that never work. Take it, scan it, walk out. All yourself. And even in advance. Make your list of exactly the products you want, pay for it in advance, and don't even scan it in the store; just in, cart, out. Simple.
Second, since each store's inventory and product location is connected to Apple's servers for the purpose of helping customers find what they want and at the best price and where they want to find it, when a customer makes a purchase, that inventory is deducted from the store's immediately at point of purchase. So store owners can see in real-time at any given time what products from what brands are selling best. This can also be uploaded immediately to the product's manufacturers. Product testbeds can give results in weeks instead of months. Manufacturing can be scaled back on existing products selling poorly and scaled up to meet a temporary or permanent demand for others.
(1) Your iPhone now knows this product. It knows you want this product. So it looks around for better prices for this product and tells you if it's cheaper elsewhere or the same price for a greater quantity. Additionally, now that it knows you want this product, in the future when this product is on your list and you get to the store, your iPhone will tell you if this product is currently in stock at the store. Because the store has networked with Apple and allowed Apple devices to check its inventory! And not just Apple devices, ALL devices. You'll see why above.
So since there are two, there may be more. I guess I could keep looking.
EDIT: Now color coded for the big points I wanted to hit. R&D streamlining, changing the purchasing paradigm, networking of systems, and what Apple gets out of being the one to be managing all this back end.
?Some people have said Apple should open a bank. This is as close as they need to get to that, and really it nets them the same thing.
Good posts!
Oddly, IBM was working on something like this with Safeway, the Big Red "S"... in 1971... before barcodes.
God, the woman in that ad was obnoxious, the way she did such dramatic gesture to touch the screen/swipe, as well as her ridiculous facial expressions.
Comments
They do, but if you are really concerned about being tracked the cellular, GPS, and WiFi on your devices should be much more of a constant concern than a proprietor looking to sell you some wares whilst in a store. You will also want to get rid of any and all store discount and points cards.
Yes, iBeacons uses BTLE!
But you don't need to turn off Bluetooth -- just don't run any apps that are advertising or scanning for beacons.
BTW, exactly the same thing as "beacons" can be (and is, in some places) done with WiFi (at a much higher battery drain)
You could run an app in the background that scans for iBeacons and logs the activity... and when you get home review all the "good deals" you missed.
In fact, an app written like this might be a way to get a gentle introductions to iBeacons.
C'mon guys... The potato chips are on the aisle end caps!
All your AI posts are logged (for a period of time). You can search them for keywords or access them by approximate date...
I'd like to see your post!
Not where I live. They’re in the middle back, opposite the soda.
It’s almost as though those two go together…
Only a period? I thought AI kept everything. That’s why we keep seeing the “34 hours without sleep” thread from a decade ago.
Eh, I should look for it; I liked it.
Wow. Okay, I knew AI’s search was spectacular, but this is incredible. Already found it. One word search: cashier. I can’t believe I remembered my use thereof.
Right.
I mean, I can definitely see it being big in authentication… of purchases. Maybe PassBook will become the digital wallet I imagined it would have been initially. Take a picture of the UPC/QR code on a product on the shelf (and maybe this will get UPC kicked off products in favor of QR), put it in your shopping cart, walk to where the cash registers used to be (mommy, what's a cashier?), bag your stuff up (leave in a bin what you decided not to buy; the former cashiers now run customer service for people, answering questions and such, as well as returning these items to the proper shelves), confirm your purchase using your fingerprint, and WALK RIGHT OUT OF THE STORE.
When you leave the geofence for that store, your account is automatically billed for the amount. A receipt is sent to your iCloud address under an automatic smart folder "Receipts".
Of course, this requires tens of millions of retailers to get on board with the system, but it provides them instantaneous feedback as to what products sell best, what they need to buy, quantities, etc. And all this gets passed onto the manufacturer as well, so they will know INSTANTLY if a product is becoming a hit or should be discontinued.
Imagine how much money it will save!
Oh, and from a consumer standpoint, Apple will have made the former actions associated with stealing… legal. It's a neat, tingly feeling—one of suspense and forbiddenness—that customers will latch onto right away due to novelty, so being a part of the system will make retailers more desirable.
Imagine… on one of the windows of nearly every store in the country (heck, it would be proudly displayed on banners at first), right next to all the major credit card logos… would be the Apple logo.
Just have Apple add one cent to every transaction to cover management and power to the back end hardware. Finally the haters will have a real Apple Tax about which to gripe, but they'll make tens of billions. A month.
And
I agree. I certainly hope there's no dedicated "NFC hardware" in Apple's digital wallet implementation. It has been thrown around a little that they might use Bluetooth, and I certainly hope so, for many reasons.
First, Bluetooth's everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Any other system would have to be built out, and they're not gonna do that. It's just not gonna happen! If it's specialized hardware only on the iPhone, I won't be able to go down to my local grocery store and buy things with my phone for over a decade! And that's even only if the system catches on as a system!
Second, people know Bluetooth. I'm not talking users, I'm talking hardware creators. Accessory makers. They understand it already.
Third, Bluetooth makes it possible for EXISTING iPhones to get this feature, too! Having an installed base of users on DAY ONE will make Apple's version succeed. Having to buy more iPhones to do it… will take far longer.
I mean, okay, picture this. How's this for the future of purchasing:
You drive to the store. Your iPhone knows where you are and reminds you what you're supposed to get. Not only that, it tells you what aisle those things are in, because the store has networked with Apple and uploaded its product layout to them. So you go to the aisle and find what you want. Pick it up, hold up your iPhone, picture of the QR barcode that has replaced the old style barcode on packaging. Now your iPhone knows what it is (1). Read that footnote first, then continue. You read it? Good, continuing. Not only does your iPhone now know what it is, it's on your list now as 'in your cart', because it probably is physically in your cart by now. Do the same with all the other products you want, and then… walk out. Just walk out. When you reach the boundary of the store geofence, your account is charged for the amount of the products in your cart. Just like an Apple Store today, but with every store.
You want a revolution? They'll give you two. One for consumers, one for store owners. First, Apple has psychologically legitimized the behavior formerly known as stealing. It'll take a few years, but we will completely redefine what it means to buy something in a physical store. No more cashiers, no more cash registers, no conveyor belts, no self-checkout machines that never work. Take it, scan it, walk out. All yourself. And even in advance. Make your list of exactly the products you want, pay for it in advance, and don't even scan it in the store; just in, cart, out. Simple.
Second, since each store's inventory and product location is connected to Apple's servers for the purpose of helping customers find what they want and at the best price and where they want to find it, when a customer makes a purchase, that inventory is deducted from the store's immediately at point of purchase. So store owners can see in real-time at any given time what products from what brands are selling best. This can also be uploaded immediately to the product's manufacturers. Product testbeds can give results in weeks instead of months. Manufacturing can be scaled back on existing products selling poorly and scaled up to meet a temporary or permanent demand for others.
(1) Your iPhone now knows this product. It knows you want this product. So it looks around for better prices for this product and tells you if it's cheaper elsewhere or the same price for a greater quantity. Additionally, now that it knows you want this product, in the future when this product is on your list and you get to the store, your iPhone will tell you if this product is currently in stock at the store. Because the store has networked with Apple and allowed Apple devices to check its inventory! And not just Apple devices, ALL devices. You'll see why above.
So since there are two, there may be more. I guess I could keep looking.
EDIT: Now color coded for the big points I wanted to hit. R&D streamlining, changing the purchasing paradigm, networking of systems, and what Apple gets out of being the one to be managing all this back end.
?Some people have said Apple should open a bank. This is as close as they need to get to that, and really it nets them the same thing.
Just to confirm, iBeacons uses BTLE? I want to know exactly which radio(s) to turn off before walking into these places.
If you don't have the app installed... there's no reason to turn anything off. Why is this so hard for people to understand?
Even if you did have the app installed, just don't allow it access to your location data - Apple implemented iBeacons as part of Core Location.
It can't track you if you don't want it to. Neither you or your iPhone (out of the box) is a BLE beacon or an iBeacon.
If you run an app on your iPhone that detects beacons -- it can do that only -- and as far as anyone knows you or your phone are not there,
If you chose to advertise your [device's] existence by running an app advertising your location -- you can be tracked -- but it doesn't know who you are or what your device is... you are anonymous.
If you choose to identify your device and location, potentially you can earn points or credits towards purchases just for being there.
If you chose to identify yourself you can seamlessly make purchases without removing your wallet or credit card.
It depends on the App!
1) iBeacons are exclusive to Apple and do not provide any advertising data that can be used for tracking... An app just listens for iBeacons of interest and takes user-specified action when one is detected.
2) BLE beacons are a lower-level implementation and, likely, both advertise and listen. If they are advertising, they can be tracked -- but they need not advertise any device-specific or user-specific information... In that case they can only be tracked anonymously.
At the users choice, the BLE beacon can advertise the availability of device specific info -- things such as device type, temperature, orientation, battery-level, signal strength, etc. Still anonymous.
At the users choice, the BLE beacon could advertise the availability of user-specific and/od device-specific info -- but this is not likely or necessary... It can be encrypted, though,
An app on an Apple iDevice can use both iBeacons and BLE beacons -- the best of both worlds... and choose to "open the kimono" only to the extent that the user desires.
Did you forget where you found them the first time?
'Wrong'. I love your overconfident proclamations.
A shopping list is one thing, but this is the store talking over your screen, that can't go well. Apple doing it in an Apple store is one thing, but one of these other guys getting access to your information and attention like that strikes me as something entirely different - in a bad way.
As long as there's individual store opt-in I would think there's no problem.
Never, there's still nothing like trying something on or holding it in your hand.
It's all about the integration. I wouldn't mind if I was shopping in men's and a coupon came up, or a reminder if I had a gift card in passbook. I thought there was talk of integration in ball parks or something like that. To some extent the tracking is good if it enhances the shopping experience. Directs you to your size, or based on past purchases something new you might like. I never shop in stores that much, but it does seem like it could enhance the user experience.
"First of all, it's not "tracking" you, it's just aware of when you enter a specific area. Second, it has to know this information if you want it to help you find something."
This bit is not, necessarily, true! Your iPhone is aware of the iBeacon -- the iBeacon is not aware of your iPhone.
You can run an app on your iPhone that says "I am interested in the shirt department at Macys". The app listens for specific iBeacons. When you approach an iBeacon in the shirt department, the app recognizes this and takes appropriate action.
Appropriate action might be:
It is unlikely that you would want to exchange this amount [more than 29 bytes at a time] of information with the iBeacon... You could, but you would be monopolizing the iBeacon and draining its power.
At no time do you need to advertise that you are there (and thus can't be located or tracked).
And here I am thinking that someone told me in yesterday's thread that there was no way to alter Android activations. Guess Schmidt can stick it to Google. Again. And again.
Sorry, you have a misconception of what an iBeacon is.
For purposes of your example an iBeacon is nothing more than an electronic sign on every product category, on every aisle in the store.
If you wish it could work like this:
All this can be done without your shopping list app ever leaving the screen -- and you need not Bluetooth advertise that you are there, so the store cannot track you any more than it does now (store cameras, traffic treads, etc).
If you pay cash at checkout, the store has no access to any of your information!
Good posts!
Oddly, IBM was working on something like this with Safeway, the Big Red "S"... in 1971... before barcodes.