苹果iBeacon或将成移动消费转折点

    智能手机还能干什么？向常来的老顾客发一条欢迎短信，在夏季凉鞋上架前告诉顾客冬靴正在清仓打折，或者在球赛开球前告诉场外的观众赶紧持票进场。

    自智能手机进入千家万户以来，市场营销专家们一直在幻想诸如此类的情境，也就是基于特定地理位置的应用。但此前一直横亘着很大的技术障碍：GPS和Wi-Fi网络在定位某个人的确切位置时表现得并不是非常可靠，尤其是在多层的购物中心或是体育场这种地方。

    随着去年年底苹果iBeacon技术的横空出世，以及这类技术在零售店的成功应用，这种技术及其能在正确的时间、正确的地点向正确的人广播消息的能力再次点燃了很多人的兴趣。包括梅西百货（Macy's）、美国鹰牌服饰（American Eagle Outfitters）、全美职棒大联盟（Major League Baseball）和全美橄榄球联盟（National Football League）在内的许多大商家、大机构都在积极测试这项技术。

    迈阿密海豚橄榄球队（Miami Dolphins）副总裁、信息总监特瑞•霍华德说：“我们需要更深入的洞察来理解我们的球迷和会员，但前提是他们愿意分享这些信息。这项技术使我们能在球迷允许的条件下理解他们的行为，因此对我们具有转折性的意义。”

    简单来说，iBeacon是一种通过低能耗蓝牙技术传递信息的方式。这种技术的早期模式是使用一种专门的、靠电池驱动的信号发射器，当用户的智能手机进入信号发射器的探测范围之内时，就会触发一条欢迎信息。（仅限于用户手机的蓝牙和地理位置服务在打开状态下。）如果接收者感兴趣并选择加入，他就会下载一个移动应用，自动接收来自基于周边地理位置的购物、娱乐、会展等信息——不管他们身在哪里。iPhone4S以及第三代iPad以后的各款苹果设备理论上来讲都可以收发这些信息——也就是大约2亿部设备。

    高通公司（Qualcomm's）Gimbal技术的产品管理总监凯文•亨特说：“出于对数码技术的直觉，我们喜欢讨论这项技术。我们提供了围绕地理位置和精确性的技术环境，使这项技术变得更具准确性和关联性。”迈阿密海豚队试验的就是由高通推出的向苹果叫板的Gimbal技术。

    迈阿密海豚队在高通的支持下，在2013赛季的最后两场主场比赛中测试了22个iBeacon的使用案例。它把50个发射器安装在阳光生活体育馆里，同时它的市场团队在场馆里安装了一批可回收的视频卡（其中的一个，只要有球迷第一次走过名人堂球星丹•马里奥的雕像，就会被触发），告诉他们哪个货摊前面排的队最短，而且还会提供小吃和饮料的优惠券。

    Welcome a frequent customer with a personal message. Offer an in-store deal on excess boot inventory before summer sandals hit the shelves. Remind tailgating season ticketholders to head to their seats before kick-off.

    Ever since smartphones became virtually ubiquitous, marketers have fantasized about mobile engagement scenarios like these, specific to a certain location. The biggest obstacle has been technical: GPS positioning satellites and Wi-Fi wireless networks aren't reliable when it comes to pinpointing an individual's whereabouts, especially indoors in multi-floor shopping malls or sports arenas.

    But the emergence of Apple's iBeacon late last year -- and the very visible use of the technology in U.S. retail stores to guide shoppers and even help them complete purchases -- has rekindled interest in systems that can broadcast messages to the right person, in the right place, and at the right time. High-profile retailers such as Macy's and American Eagle Outfitters, along with Major League Baseball and the National Football League, are actively testing them.

    "As much as we try to understand our fans and members, we need more insight, provided they are willing to share it," says Tery Howard, senior vice president and chief technology officer for the Miami Dolphins football team, explaining her organization's interest. "This technology could be transformational for us in allowing us to understand behavior at the pace that the fans allow us to."

    In simple terms, iBeacon is a way of sending messages using a Bluetooth Low Energy connection. Early installations use specialized, battery-operated transmitters that detect when someone using an enabled smartphone is nearby and trigger a "welcome" greeting. (This only works if the phone's Bluetooth connection is on and location services are active.) If the recipient is interested and opts in, he or she downloads a mobile application that lets them receive messages specific to their location in the store, entertainment venue, convention center -- wherever they happen to be. Every iOS device since the iPhone 4S and the third-generation iPad -- approximately 200 million gadgets in all -- is theoretically capable of sending or receiving these messages.

    "We like to talk about this as a digital sixth sense," says Kevin Hunter, director of product management for Qualcomm's Gimbal technology, the system behind the Dolphins trial and in Apple stores. "We provide context around location and proximity; we make it more filtered and more relevant."

    Along with Qualcomm, the Dolphins tested 22 different iBeacon use cases during the last two home games of its 2013 season, with 50 transmitters installed in Sun Life Stadium. Among them: Its marketing team distributed collectible video cards (including one that triggered the first time fans walked by a statue of Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino), advised them about which concession lines were shortest in their section, and offered up coupons for snacks and beverages.