Apple's iBeacon used to push seat upgrades in nosebleeds at sporting events
Some U.S. sports arenas have begun pushing ticket upgrades to fans in the cheap seats through Apple's iBeacon technology for iPhone, offering users the ability to upgrade their seats quickly and easily.
An iBeacon transmitter from Sonic Notify.
The Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association have begun using iBeacons to reach out to iPhone users who attend games at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., according to Bloomberg. Attendees are reportedly offered ticket upgrades once they step off the escalators at the top of the stadium, on their way to their seats.
Sonic Notify is company responsible for the rollout of iBeacons at Oracle Arena, with "several dozen 2-by-2-inch" sensors now installed at the home of the Warriors. The company estimates that fewer than 30 percent of smartphone users with Bluetooth Low Energy capable devices keep the feature turned on regularly, though the Warriors indicated that about half of the ticket upgrades they have pushed thus far were purchased by fans.
The new initiative makes the Warriors the first team in the NBA to utilize Apple's iBeacon technology. Major League Baseball has firmly embraced the technology already, and has already begun utilizing iBeacons at 20 of its parks ahead of the 2014 baseball season.
MLB's implementation grants users targeted, location-based information regarding stadium amenities, points of interest and more. But like the Warriors, it also gives users the option to upgrade their seats directly from their iPhone once they arrive at a game.
The National Football League also tested out iBeacons at the Super Bowl in February, both in New York's Times Square, as well as MetLife Stadium where the championship game was held. The wireless, location-based technology was used to serve personalized ads to football fans.
In addition to sports teams, early iBeacon adoption has also taken off at retail, where Apple itself has utilized the Bluetooth Low Energy implementation to provide quick links to iPhone upgrade eligibility, EasyPay, help, support, and gift guides. Last year Macy's also ran a test pilot with iBeacon at flagship stores in New York City and San Francisco, tracking shoppers' movements throughout the stores and presenting offers based on where they are located.
Apple quietly introduced iBeacons alongside iOS 7 at July's Worldwide Developers Conference, and the Bluetooth Low Energy-based technology was quickly recognized for its potential to revolutionize location services with its low power requirements and ability to precisely pinpoint users' locations inside buildings. Many believe it could form the basis of a new iTunes-powered mobile payments system, similar to what Google has attempted to create with the NFC-based Google Wallet.
An iBeacon transmitter from Sonic Notify.
The Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association have begun using iBeacons to reach out to iPhone users who attend games at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., according to Bloomberg. Attendees are reportedly offered ticket upgrades once they step off the escalators at the top of the stadium, on their way to their seats.
Sonic Notify is company responsible for the rollout of iBeacons at Oracle Arena, with "several dozen 2-by-2-inch" sensors now installed at the home of the Warriors. The company estimates that fewer than 30 percent of smartphone users with Bluetooth Low Energy capable devices keep the feature turned on regularly, though the Warriors indicated that about half of the ticket upgrades they have pushed thus far were purchased by fans.
Thus far, sports teams and retailers have been quick to adopt Apple's iBeacon to reach customers.
The new initiative makes the Warriors the first team in the NBA to utilize Apple's iBeacon technology. Major League Baseball has firmly embraced the technology already, and has already begun utilizing iBeacons at 20 of its parks ahead of the 2014 baseball season.
MLB's implementation grants users targeted, location-based information regarding stadium amenities, points of interest and more. But like the Warriors, it also gives users the option to upgrade their seats directly from their iPhone once they arrive at a game.
The National Football League also tested out iBeacons at the Super Bowl in February, both in New York's Times Square, as well as MetLife Stadium where the championship game was held. The wireless, location-based technology was used to serve personalized ads to football fans.
In addition to sports teams, early iBeacon adoption has also taken off at retail, where Apple itself has utilized the Bluetooth Low Energy implementation to provide quick links to iPhone upgrade eligibility, EasyPay, help, support, and gift guides. Last year Macy's also ran a test pilot with iBeacon at flagship stores in New York City and San Francisco, tracking shoppers' movements throughout the stores and presenting offers based on where they are located.
Apple quietly introduced iBeacons alongside iOS 7 at July's Worldwide Developers Conference, and the Bluetooth Low Energy-based technology was quickly recognized for its potential to revolutionize location services with its low power requirements and ability to precisely pinpoint users' locations inside buildings. Many believe it could form the basis of a new iTunes-powered mobile payments system, similar to what Google has attempted to create with the NFC-based Google Wallet.
Comments
So if you have an Android phone you're screwed for ticket upgrades LOL.
Oh, please. They have an Android device. Ticket upgrades are the least of their worries. They don't even know what upgrades are.
Now THIS is cool technology!
Now THIS is cool technology!
Very cool indeed.
Hopefully this is just the beginning.
So if you have an Android phone you're screwed for ticket upgrades LOL.
They have no money. That is why they are in the cheap seats to begin with. LOLOL.
What I'm hoping is that venues see this as a chance to both give loyal customers a bargain and to get incremental revenue at the last moment. If they've got a lot of open higher-priced seats, they should be offered to fans at a discount when they arrive. In fact, I think that if someone doesn't show up in their corporate boxes by X minutes by the third inning or the end of the first quarter, those seats should be offered up to the other attendees for a SMALL upgrade fee.
Great use of technology, but having said that, it's one thing if someone bought the cheap seats because they couldn't afford anything better at the time they bought. It's quite another if they couldn't get better seats because they were held back by the venue or because the re-sellers got all the good seats and then the venue tries to sell the upgrade at an even higher price.
What I'm hoping is that venues see this as a chance to both give loyal customers a bargain and to get incremental revenue at the last moment. If they've got a lot of open higher-priced seats, they should be offered to fans at a discount when they arrive. In fact, I think that if someone doesn't show up in their corporate boxes by X minutes by the third inning or the end of the first quarter, those seats should be offered up to the other attendees for a SMALL upgrade fee.
The other side of this is like airline 1st class upgrades.
order up front costs $999
get a $399 Q class fare
show up at the airport, and 1st class isn't sold out, the seats are usually much less than the diff in tkt prices, Typically I see them at $150-299.
They would rather have you pay at least something to upgrade than to give them to uber ruby platinum upgrade list member.
in sporting venues, especially for the 'camera', they want to fill the lower bowl. If the lower bowl has $100 seats empty, then why not take a $26 Nose Bleeder and offer her $50 to upgrade.
1) she fills in the space in front of the camera
2) she gets the court side experience and decides to rob a bank to get season tickets (or something like that;-) )
So if you have an Android phone you're screwed for ticket upgrades LOL.
LOL
But no. Developers can write apps for Android that can listen for iBeacons (it is just a BLE service), just not as easily as under iOS - Although I do think there are a couple APIs out there to make it easier. The problem is, each app that is listening needs to remain running in the background, whereas with iOS, iBeacon is a system notification service, that can notify apps as they're needed and launch them.
Oh, please. They have an Android device. Ticket upgrades are the least of their worries. They don't even know what upgrades are.
And this is the problem with currently "wasting" time writing Android apps to support this...
1. BLE support was only added to Android last summer.
2. OEM adoption rates have only recently kicked into gear, because of #1.
3. Android devices are difficult to upgrade.
Add all that up and you have an installed base of capable devices that's only a fraction of Apple's iOS user base.
Apple was the first to adopt BLE two and half years ago, in the iPhone 4s, so their supported base of users is in the hundreds of millions; count all iPhones since the 4s and all iPads since the 3rd Gen. -- and why everyone talks about iBeacons and not other BLE beacon services.
This is a somewhat current list of Google Android phones/tablets that include BLE and with Android 4.3 or above available to them.
HTC One, Max, Mini
LG G2, G Pro2, G Flex, Vu3.0
Motorola Moto G, Moto X
Motorola Droid RAZR M, RAZR HD, RAZR Maxx HD
Motorola Droid Ultra, Maxx, Mini
LGE Nexus 4, 5, 7 (2013)
Samsung Galaxy S3, S3 Mini, S4, S4 Mini, S4 Active
Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Note 3, Note 10.1
Sony Xperia Z, Z1, Z1 Compact
Sony Xperia Tablet Z, Ultra, ZR, ZL
Sony Xperia SP, T, TX, V
There should be a few 10's of millions out and about compatible with Beacons I would think. Perhaps not iPhone numbers but they're not exactly rare either.
EDIT: If you're interested in learning about it there's an article here on Beacons and the ways compatible iOS and Android devices are similar and how they differ in using them.
http://beekn.net/2013/10/ibeacon-for-android-radius-app-helps-you-discover-and-test-beacons/
So if you have an Android phone you're screwed for ticket upgrades LOL.
No, I think you are just screwed in general
"Siri, find me an open seat as close to the field as possible in section 114."
iBeacons need to be tied to a particular app or apps. A device will simply ignore the BT radio signals if there is no app that is designed to pick up on a specific iBeacon.
And for the benefit of those of us on the other side of the pond: "Nosebleeds"?
Could it be altitude, where we say "Up in the gods"?
For those interested in learning more about ibeacon,
Check out this handy guide. http://ibeacon.com/what-is-ibeacon-a-guide-to-beacons/
Apparently there are some games on in Sydney Australia tonight and tomorrow.
Dodgers vs Diamondbacks.
$69 to $499
I think I'll give it a miss.
correct.