5 ms·

I'm a little surprised that there isn't broader availability of iBeacons at this stage... I feel I should be able to walk into an Apple store and buy a 10-pack

I'm a little surprised that there isn't broader availability of iBeacons at this stage... I feel I should be able to walk into an Apple store and buy a 10-pack of them for some reasonable price.

tedmiston 12y ago
The Estimote beacons are the closest I've seen to this idea, but I would like to hear about more competitors. http://estimote.com/ http://estimote.com/
- clemesha 12y ago
  I'd say Gimbal: https://gimbal.com https://gimbal.com is a main competitor (see my comment to the parent), but I'd also be interested in hearing about others.
clemesha 12y ago
I'm currently developing an app based on Gimbal: https://gimbal.com https://gimbal.com (made by Qualcomm). My experience so far has been pretty good using their SDK (which works on iOS and Android) and their admin web interface, and the Gimbal devices themselves are not that expensive. I'd be interested to hear the experiences of others using Gimbal..
- jsemrau 12y ago
  Gimbal beacons have the suckiest battery life. The ones that I had expired after only two months of usage. Of course you can replace the battery (big plus) but the maintenance would be costly if deployed at a customer site.
  - zachdunn 12y ago
    For series 10, absolutely. Their series 20 seems to have better battery life (4 AA), but they need to "approve" you in order to purchase them... still yet to see one in the wild.
- bitpew 12y ago
  I recently (Feb 2014) had the opportunity to evaluate different iBeacon hardware for a project. http://roximity.com http://roximity.com * "ok" price * horrible customer communication * in reality to want to sell you their services and not the iBeacons. * not configurable (proximity id, major, minor) * really long shipping time to europe (4 weeks) https://www.sticknfind.com https://www.sticknfind.com * "ok" price * nice form factor (small) * not really iBeacon compatible. They say you can flash their beacons to make them compatible, but i haven't found out how since their support is not responding. * not configurable (proximity id, major, minor) http://kontakt.io http://kontakt.io * good price * great support * major, minor configurable. proximity id not * form factor kinda bulky * they seem to be able to deliver huge amount of beacons http://www.easibeacon.com http://www.easibeacon.com * great price * great support * nice form factor (same as stickNFind) * fully configurable (proximity id, major, minor) * the company is relatively young Can't say anything about the battery life yet, but the batteries were replaceable in each case.
  - jimmcslim 12y ago
    Awesome summary! Thanks!
  - jchrisa 12y ago
    Here's another one that combines Arduino http://blog.onlycoin.com/posts/2013/10/3/coin-arduino-ble-dev-kit http://blog.onlycoin.com/posts/2013/10/3/coin-arduino-ble-de...
  - pieterdm 12y ago
    Read our blog post on iBeacon battery life http://www.marconilabs.com/ibeacon-battery-life-does-size-matter/ http://www.marconilabs.com/ibeacon-battery-life-does-size-ma... Best, Pieter
jsemrau 12y ago
Why would you? Any Bluetooth 4.0 supporting spec is a potential beacon. That makes roughly 400 mil devices sold.
maxsilver 12y ago
For what it's worth, Gelo sells beacons in exactly this manner -- you can just buy 10 beacons, and they ship the same day you order them. http://www.getgelo.com/beacons/ http://www.getgelo.com/beacons/ (Disclaimer : I work with the organization.)
TheFuture 12y ago
Because standalone iBeacons to trigger geofences is not what I believe Apple intends to use them for. This is what Estimote is selling. Sure the geofence triggering is kinda cool, but I've yet to see a practical use of it. Seems like "interactive museum tour" is the thing everyone keeps coming back to. If this is what Apple wanted to do with iBeacons, they would be selling them for a couple bucks in Apple Stores. But iBeacons aren't a consumer device. I think much more likely to see "iBeacon ready" hardware sold by Apple and other 3rd parties. I think iBeacon protocol will become part of other devices, as a way to add proximity detection for the iPhone/apps that could interact with that device. How about a DSLR camera that I can pair with by touching my iPhone to it? Creating ad-hoc multi-peer networks between devices by being near them. Play a game on your phone on a nearby TV without connecting to same WiFi. Or wearables knowing which other wearables are nearby. This kind of natural, "magical" interaction is very Apple.
- Gmo 12y ago
  > How about a DSLR camera that I can pair with by touching my iPhone to it? Isn't it what NFC is for ? Except for Apple stubbornly deciding not to add it to the iPhone ?
csexton 12y ago
My company, Radius Networks, does sell different hardware configurations as well as software to broadcast as a beacon. http://www.radiusnetworks.com/ http://www.radiusnetworks.com/ I really love the USB powered model, especially for something like PunchClock. No batteries means no dead batteries. http://store.radiusnetworks.com/products/radbeacon-usb http://store.radiusnetworks.com/products/radbeacon-usb We also released a number of open source projects that can help with projects like this. Including the ibeacon cli (if you are on a mac just `brew install ibeacon`), or if you want more than iOS check out the Android iBeacon Library (https://github.com/RadiusNetworks/android-ibeacon-service https://github.com/RadiusNetworks/android-ibeacon-service). Sorry for the shameless plug!
- dav- 12y ago
  I just bought your MacBeacon app the other day. Works like a charm, thanks!

I'm a little surprised that there isn't broader availability of iBeacons at this stage... I feel I should be able to walk into an Apple store and buy a 10-pack of them for some reasonable price.

tedmiston 12y ago

The Estimote beacons are the closest I've seen to this idea, but I would like to hear about more competitors. http://estimote.com/ http://estimote.com/

clemesha 12y ago
I'd say Gimbal: https://gimbal.com https://gimbal.com is a main competitor (see my comment to the parent), but I'd also be interested in hearing about others.

clemesha 12y ago

I'm currently developing an app based on Gimbal: https://gimbal.com https://gimbal.com (made by Qualcomm). My experience so far has been pretty good using their SDK (which works on iOS and Android) and their admin web interface, and the Gimbal devices themselves are not that expensive. I'd be interested to hear the experiences of others using Gimbal..

jsemrau 12y ago
Gimbal beacons have the suckiest battery life. The ones that I had expired after only two months of usage. Of course you can replace the battery (big plus) but the maintenance would be costly if deployed at a customer site.
- zachdunn 12y ago
  For series 10, absolutely. Their series 20 seems to have better battery life (4 AA), but they need to "approve" you in order to purchase them... still yet to see one in the wild.
bitpew 12y ago
I recently (Feb 2014) had the opportunity to evaluate different iBeacon hardware for a project. http://roximity.com http://roximity.com * "ok" price * horrible customer communication * in reality to want to sell you their services and not the iBeacons. * not configurable (proximity id, major, minor) * really long shipping time to europe (4 weeks) https://www.sticknfind.com https://www.sticknfind.com * "ok" price * nice form factor (small) * not really iBeacon compatible. They say you can flash their beacons to make them compatible, but i haven't found out how since their support is not responding. * not configurable (proximity id, major, minor) http://kontakt.io http://kontakt.io * good price * great support * major, minor configurable. proximity id not * form factor kinda bulky * they seem to be able to deliver huge amount of beacons http://www.easibeacon.com http://www.easibeacon.com * great price * great support * nice form factor (same as stickNFind) * fully configurable (proximity id, major, minor) * the company is relatively young Can't say anything about the battery life yet, but the batteries were replaceable in each case.
- jimmcslim 12y ago
  Awesome summary! Thanks!
- jchrisa 12y ago
  Here's another one that combines Arduino http://blog.onlycoin.com/posts/2013/10/3/coin-arduino-ble-dev-kit http://blog.onlycoin.com/posts/2013/10/3/coin-arduino-ble-de...
- pieterdm 12y ago
  Read our blog post on iBeacon battery life http://www.marconilabs.com/ibeacon-battery-life-does-size-matter/ http://www.marconilabs.com/ibeacon-battery-life-does-size-ma... Best, Pieter

jsemrau 12y ago

Why would you? Any Bluetooth 4.0 supporting spec is a potential beacon. That makes roughly 400 mil devices sold.

maxsilver 12y ago

For what it's worth, Gelo sells beacons in exactly this manner -- you can just buy 10 beacons, and they ship the same day you order them. http://www.getgelo.com/beacons/ http://www.getgelo.com/beacons/ (Disclaimer : I work with the organization.)

TheFuture 12y ago

Because standalone iBeacons to trigger geofences is not what I believe Apple intends to use them for. This is what Estimote is selling. Sure the geofence triggering is kinda cool, but I've yet to see a practical use of it. Seems like "interactive museum tour" is the thing everyone keeps coming back to. If this is what Apple wanted to do with iBeacons, they would be selling them for a couple bucks in Apple Stores. But iBeacons aren't a consumer device. I think much more likely to see "iBeacon ready" hardware sold by Apple and other 3rd parties. I think iBeacon protocol will become part of other devices, as a way to add proximity detection for the iPhone/apps that could interact with that device. How about a DSLR camera that I can pair with by touching my iPhone to it? Creating ad-hoc multi-peer networks between devices by being near them. Play a game on your phone on a nearby TV without connecting to same WiFi. Or wearables knowing which other wearables are nearby. This kind of natural, "magical" interaction is very Apple.

Gmo 12y ago
> How about a DSLR camera that I can pair with by touching my iPhone to it? Isn't it what NFC is for ? Except for Apple stubbornly deciding not to add it to the iPhone ?

csexton 12y ago

My company, Radius Networks, does sell different hardware configurations as well as software to broadcast as a beacon. http://www.radiusnetworks.com/ http://www.radiusnetworks.com/ I really love the USB powered model, especially for something like PunchClock. No batteries means no dead batteries. http://store.radiusnetworks.com/products/radbeacon-usb http://store.radiusnetworks.com/products/radbeacon-usb We also released a number of open source projects that can help with projects like this. Including the ibeacon cli (if you are on a mac just `brew install ibeacon`), or if you want more than iOS check out the Android iBeacon Library (https://github.com/RadiusNetworks/android-ibeacon-service https://github.com/RadiusNetworks/android-ibeacon-service). Sorry for the shameless plug!

dav- 12y ago
I just bought your MacBeacon app the other day. Works like a charm, thanks!