Sure, GPS was a game-changer. But as stars were to ancient mariners, “beacons” are the true wayfinders of the Internet of Things. They’re the enabling tech behind “micro-location”, and they’re about to revolutionize location services all over again.

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• What are “beacons”?
  
• Beacons vs. iBeacons
  
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  • Generic names vs. Apple branding
    
  • Compatibility
    
  
  
  
• Cost
  
• Design
  
• Hardware and service providers
  
• GPS vs BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), and why you need both
  
• Micro-location applications (see “Use cases” section below for more)
  
• A way for retail to compete with Amazon?
  
• Geofencing
  
• Ultra-microlocation (!)
  
• Light (vs. RF) becaons
  

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• Mobiquity
  
• Estimote — Stylish beacons priced at 3 for $99
  
• Qualcomm’s Gimbal beacons
  

While the use cases for this technology is pretty endless, here are just a few we touch on:

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• Airports
  
• Shopping malls
  
• Retail
  
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  • Personalized shopping
    
  • In-store contextual advertising
    
  • Radically different checkout experience (“real-life one-click”)
    
  
  
  
• Augmented reality
  
• Casinos
  
• Museums and libraries
  
• Medicine (Proteus are pills that notify a patch that you’ve digested the pill)
  
• Sports and games
  
• Theme parks
  
• Within a car (!)