If you’re a marketer, you’ve definitely heard about beacons and the Physical Web. You know that the Physical Web is likely to change the way we interact with the world around us, which means it will also change the way consumers interact with businesses.
The Physical Web is still very new, which means adoption rates are still low. The key to seeing these adoption rates rise is to make the Physical Web easily accessible for everyone. This is exactly what Google intends to do.
Currently, users on iOS must have the Physical Web app or Chrome for iOS installed in order to view Physical Web links. Android users can only access the Physical Web through the Physical Web app. This makes widespread adoption tough because many people are not yet aware of the Physical Web so they don’t have the Physical Web app. But luckily for marketers, this is about to change.
Google recently announced that in Chrome version 49, which is coming soon, Google Chrome will feature a built in Physical Web browser much like the one featured in iOS. This means that the Physical Web will now come native on Android phones, which gives marketers the opportunity to use the Physical Web to interact with millions of consumers.
That’s not all. The best part is that Google is able to make the Physical Web much more known when it comes native on Android. Their blog post explained it like this.
“When users walk by a beacon for the first time, they’ll receive a notification allowing them to enable the Physical Web. On future encounters with beacons, users can quickly see a list of nearby URLs by tapping on a non-vibrating notification waiting for them.”
Previously, businesses would need to educate consumers on the existence of the Physical Web. That is no longer the case. Android phones will now prompt users to use the Physical Web and even push Physical Web links into their notifications bar. Greatly increasing the chances of people using the Physical Web.
With the Physical Web becoming more widespread and Android promoting the Physical Web, we could be seeing widespread adoption much sooner than we thought.
Need Physical Web beacons? You can find them here.
