Beacons give objects a personality. They allow a doorway to welcome you and a picture to tell you about itself. They let you know you are near a product you like or that coffee is half price. They let a tourist sign explain itself in your language. In a way they are almost magical but the technology that made them is so simplistic a child could have invented it. Beacons are a also a great way for app developers engage with the internet of things for the first time. Industry has been connecting things together for decades, that’s how your luggage finds its way to the aeroplane and its how the street lamps turn on and off simultaneously at sunset and sunrise. However cleaver these systems are we can’t deny the fact that there is something special about the first time your thermostat talks to you and that you can talk back, or you are able to track your own health by wearing a connected wrist band. I think there should even be a different name for this , something like the Consumer Internet Of Things. For most app developers connecting to a beacon will be the first time they connect a smartphone directly to another device without going to the internet. This may sound quite simplistic but without being aware of it they will have performed a big step and will more easily be able to conceptualize the Internet Of Things.
