Beacons: An SDK to dominate them all.

Go, Raul, but did not you say that the Ibeacons aka Beacons saw it as a hype for this year? Yes, although I can always go wrong, I’m not a guru.

So … The title of the article about beacons? Well nothing, are a reflection on the changes, twists and movements that I see that the industry is having and I think it is interesting to put in order in my head and therefore, yawn, that’s what this blog is for …

Well, Raúl Serapio, tell us .. What have you observed about the beacons? Let’s go to the mess: A clear summary of the article written by my partner Fede Paredes for our company MOKO Smart and that explains perfectly what a beacon is and what it can be used in the retail sectors, shopping centers …

• A beacon is a beacon that sends an identifier, it does not carry content. Example: Retail Beacon-1
• Your mobile has to have an app that when identifying that beacon knows what it has to show:
  • Oh, my cell phone, which has to carry the Bluetooth on, has identified the Retail-1 beacon inside the SuperRetail Moda store, which also has its app installed.
• The app looks at itself and says:
  • Oh, the Retail-1 beacon and being this mobile of a profile x (previously all well programmed), I have to show this offer.
• Ale, the phone vibrates, the client starts with surprise and pleasantly discovers that she has the offer she was looking for at the time she was looking for.

Applause!!!

In the article by Fede, the technical and functional limitations that beacons have and that many do not count are also very well explained, but they must be taken into account.

How content platforms of iBeacon networks work

Analysts predict that the world will be full of iBeacons everywhere, they are here to stay and invade the world, become the perfect tool for retail and the user will be delighted with their new shopping experience (or so they say). Throughout the last year, in our company Neuromobile (advertising wedge) we have been following the evolution of companies that bet directly on this technology.

The boom of content platforms for iBeacon networks has been brutal, a new content management system appears every day.

Let’s see how these platforms work: They offer an SDK to introduce in an app, the retailer, brand, shopping center. An SDK, in broad strokes is soft that is integrated into the code of our mobile application.

Being a different programming, the user must accept some new permissions about their privacy that in many cases are not necessary for the operation. From this content platform we can add new features to our app when our client approaches an iBeacon:

• Sending messages.
• Questionnaires in a hot moment.
• Images, videos.
• And other functionalities more.

On the other hand, the platform must collect information about that user:

• Location of the beacon where the user was activated.
• Response to the message by the client.
• And many more data according to this platform and its SDK.

In this way, the platform collects hundreds of data from customers who have installed the different apps that have in turn integrated the SDK of a specific platform. We move on to the terrain of analysis and big data, but that we leave for another time.

iBeacons platforms.

In my opinion, the business is among the great beacons management platforms, in its ability to reproduce and install itself in as many more third-party apps as possible.

“Imagine an SDK installed and embedded in the main apps of fashion brands, or banking, supermarkets … A network of beacons and an SDK to dominate us all , the same company that has installed its SDK in thousands of apps that we have installed. will have perfectly “defined” and segmented. “This is the phrase that my estimable collaborator Ramón Merino let loose one day in a beerstorming. WOW !! It opened my mind!

This alarms the authorities, in the United States it is already beginning to talk about it on a legal level because it allows a unique identifier in many areas of the person who carries the phone, and that unique identification, Papa State wants it for the non-private use of companies

And you will tell me … Why do you think so about this? Well for the simple reason of reading every day the huge amounts of money or shopping movements that are lifting this type of platform.

A question on the air: Do small platforms have a place, for example, at a national level, what are they coming out like churros? They are many and with similar services.

Of course, the most important thing is to know that these platforms can exploit the data they collect because otherwise, I do not see any sense in the business model, this is a big and hard game of big data.

What permission do they have about their clients’ data? I assure you that I do not know until now I have not been able to find the legal conditions of the different platforms. If you can help me, I appreciate it.

In short, the iBeacon model, regardless of whether it will meet the expectations for the client and the user lies in the fact that large platforms are able to integrate their SDK into the largest number of third-party apps that are left and that understand that the data may not be yours at all.

Meanwhile, I hope to see a real and close success story, that I can enjoy in my person an enrichment in my moment of purchase or visit to a local. That in the end, that’s what it’s about, is not it? If you have experienced a real case, please tell me!

See you in the networks.