Royal Spanish Academy defines “Beacons” as: a mobile signal that indicates dangerous places which help the orientation of the navigator.
 

iBeacons are a Bluetooth technology - short range - which says “I am here, I am here, I am here…”, Apps can recognize it and then they launch Push Notifications on our devices with information or ads.

 

Differences between iBeacon and Beacon

None. Apple just added “i”  as it has been doing with all their products. In fact, Beacons are open source code.

 

Disadvantages of iBeacons:

Nowadays, it is not possible to work with iBeacons. Why? Because they just cover a small part of smartphones ecosystem:

1. iBeacons just operate in iPhone 4S ahead with iOS7 installed. It covers 15% of the Android market and 5% of other OS.

2. Its range is just 25 meters and it’s not configurable.

3. To detect visitors, it requires users to pre-install an App on their smartphones.

 

Advantages of Seeketing Nodes:

1. Seeketing Nodes detect all devices equipped with Bluetooth or Wifi (100% of the Market) or even Cellular Network (2G/3G/4G).

2. The scope can be set to 300 meters.

3. You don't need to install any APP previously.

 

We will understand better using IKEA as an example :

If we put Seeketing Nodes at strategic points:

1. IKEA would know which areas are the most visited: total number of visitors who enter the store based on zone, number of new visits vs. recurrent visits, average time visitors spend within the store, visitors profile by zone, traffic flow between zones and information on visitor’s use of mobile devices.

2. IKEA would guide visitors through the store. How? As clients come to these strategic points, they would receive push notifications with information or ads because they have been detected by Seeketing Nodes in real time .