Apple to Pilot iBeacon Micro-Location Technology in Retail Stores

Apple (AAPL) reportedly will install iBeacon micro-location transmitters in its retail stores that will track a customer’s position to provide in-the-moment product information and services to their iPhone or iPad.

According to a 9to5Mac report, as browsing Apple customers approach a product accessory on a store table or shelf, they will be able to receive features and pricing information as well as additional useful material such as a future workshop. Select Apple retail outlets will begin testing the iBeacon technology—which works only on devices running iOS 7 and Bluetooth 4.0—over the next few weeks, the report said.

Apple apparently has become so enamored with iBeacon possibilities that it is testing a development program for third parties to integrate the technology into apps. In introducing iBeacon at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June in San Francisco, Apple made particular mention of the technology as a new part of its SDK. And, the iBeacon already is spawning micro-locations start-ups such as Estimote.

With Apple's retail stores, the basis of the iBeacon idea is to improve the overall shopping experience and improve sales and service in the process. Apple chief executive Tim Cook is on record wanting to boost sales and service of iPhones in the vendor’s retail stores, so the iBeacon installations can be seen as tied directly to that initiative. Still, it’s difficult not to see it as among the early stages of the Internet of Everything, in which billions of objects and devices house sensors relaying billions of pieces of data, dramatically augmenting marketing, product positioning and service in the process.

Apple will place begin installing the iBeacon sensors on the shelves and table displays at its stores in the United States this week, the 9to5Mac report said. The iBeacon deployment is timed to a new release of the Apple Store iPhone app, an upgrade that will enable users to receive advance notices on their iPhone of workshops or other events of interest related to a specific product or technology. While the Apple Store app already can determine if a person is in-store, the iBeacon technology is said to be more accurate in determining actual location.

Apple also is examining using the iBeacon technology to find customers waiting in line for Genius Bar appointments to push product information, specials and things of that nature, and to let other customers know a repair service has been completed, according to 9to5Mac. It also said Apple additionally is working on a new indoor mapping component to be baked into iOS that could help customers to better navigate through stores.