Watch out, iBeacon! Yesterday Google announced “Eddystone,” an open source beacon standard designed to be platform-agnostic to take on Apple’s iBeacon, whose proprietary standard only works with Apple devices and shuts out all the Android users. In comparison, Eddystone beacons will be able to work with any device that supports Bluetooth LE. In addition, Google’s beacon platform will offer more options for the types of functions the beacons can trigger than iBeacons, therefore diversifying the data sets Google can collect via the beacons.
Armed with such universality and versatility, Eddystone seems to have some serious competitive edges over iBeacons. Interestingly, just weeks ago, Facebook started handing out free beacons to the retailers across the country to support the expansion of its hyperlocal feature Place Tips for Business. Now with Google officially joining the beacon race, the proximity and IoT spaces look more competitive and vibrant than ever.
Source: ARS Technica
Header image courtesy of Google Developers
