\nWhen the app store first arrived and the \u201cThere\u2019s an app for that\u201d<\/a> ad campaign rolled out, apps were everything. They made life easier and gave users an experience they had never before imagined. But now that we have access to over a million apps, most of which do things that don\u2019t actually provide value, such as using your iPhone as a harmonica or measuring how long you can hold down on your iPhone screen, we have to ask ourselves, are apps really the best way to provide an amazing experience?<\/p>\n
![\"Apple](\"https:\/\/dxjl3qy52c1o9.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/28125100\/TheresAnAppForThatHeader.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>As a business, one of the tough questions you face is whether or not you should have an app. Apps can allow for your business to easily connect with your customers and better the customer experience. Whether this means offering digital promotions and loyalty programs or connecting with your customers through proximity based notifications, most businesses feel that they should have an app.
\nBut when you really think about it, why would you spend a bunch of money to build an app? Your app would have to compete with over 1 million other apps, and then if you get lucky enough to have your customers download your app, you still have to compete with dozens of apps on the user\u2019s phone. Luckily, there is an answer, and it was built specifically with you in mind.<\/p>\n
Google changes the game with Eddystone BLE Beacons<\/h4>\n
A couple of weeks ago, Google announced Eddystone<\/a>, which is a new BLE beacon broadcast that works with both Android and iOS. The Eddystone BLE beacon goal is to eliminate the need for anything\u00a0to have an app. Using new BLE beacon\u00a0technology, Eddystone allows for businesses and devices to connect with smartphones and other smart devices without having to have an app. Why is this important? This allows for businesses to participate in proximity based customer engagement without having their own app. This also allows businesses to give the customer an amazing experience without having to force them\u00a0to download a new app. So Eddystone\u00a0BLE Beacons gives anybody the ability to utilize beacons and \u00a0give customers the ultimate experience.<\/p>\n The reason that this is possible is because Google has begun to work on a more app-less future. And they call it the Physical Web<\/a>. The Physical Web will allow smart devices connected to the internet of things (IoT) – Eddystone BLE Beacons are part of this – to work without an app. But you can read more about that here<\/a>. Or you can continue to find out\u00a0how Eddystone will eliminate more of your headaches, below.<\/p>\n First, think about what you might want from an app for your business. You might\u00a0want to display promotions, give digital coupons, allow for on-phone redemption and for customers to fully experience what your business has to offer. And as touched on earlier, this is now possible-without the need for an app – partly with Eddystone BLE Beacons, but fully with Mobile Wallet. Eddystone\u00a0BLE Beacons\u00a0and Physical web are\u00a0very new technologies that are\u00a0going to be improved and will also continue change the way you\u00a0interact with smart devices. But even upon initial release, the impact is huge. As Eddystone, Physical Web, and the mobile wallet grow, connecting with consumers will become more personal and easier than ever.<\/p>\n Major BLE Beacon barriers, which might have stopped you\u00a0in the past, have been broken. Google has begun to create a world where businesses and devices can connect with users without an app, giving access to everyone in Physical Web with products like Eddystone BLE Beacons. From All The Apps To One Eddystone BLE Beacon 1 year ago, Apple announced with pride that they have over 1.3 million apps in the app store. To them of course, this is a good thing. Users have downloaded over 75 billion applications and they visit the app store 300 million times per week. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":13751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6764"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18303,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764\/revisions\/18303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBefore Eddystone, BLE beacon usage was limited to apps. If you wanted to engage your\u00a0customers through proximity based BLE beacon signals, you would have to build an app. On top of this, you\u00a0would need each customer to download that\u00a0app in order for your BLE\u00a0beacon signals to be enabled and viewed by the customer.
\nGoogle and Eddystone BLW Beacons have now changed this. Google built in the ability to receive BLE beacon signals into the Google Chrome Browser on your phone or the Google Now App. So now, anybody running one of these on their phone is eligible to receive an Eddystone BLE signal from a beacon. And although it sounds like you’re still using an “app” (Google Now<\/a>), it’s not a specific app you have to download for one in-store or brand experience. It’s\u00a0an app that you most likely\u00a0use already for a number of other functions – it’s also native on the majority of Android Devices<\/a>, plus it will let you access any Eddystone BLE Beacon. It’s a value add on to a browser\u00a0app that already does a bunch of amazing things – like tell you the traffic from work to home without\u00a0you\u00a0even asking, and look. In simple terms:<\/p>\nBEFORE<\/strong>: BLE Beacons required a specific app. Each brand, store, event, or experience would build their own app to interact with their own BLE Beacons – to offer an experience.\u00a0<\/address>\n\u00a0<\/address>\nAFTER<\/strong>: Eddystone BLE Beacons work with the existing\u00a0Google Chrome Browser or Google Now App.\u00a0You don’t need to build your own.\u00a0<\/address>\n\u00a0<\/address>\n![\"Eddystone](\"https:\/\/dxjl3qy52c1o9.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/28125606\/chrome-permission.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Eddystone BLE Beacons Help Unlock The Full Customer Value Chain With Mobile Wallet<\/h4>\nYou can replicate your planned App experience with BLE Beacons and Mobile Wallet at a fraction of the cost.<\/em><\/address>\n\u00a0<\/address>\n
\nFirst let\u2019s cover the Mobile Wallet\u00a0portion. Using The PassKit Portal<\/a>\u00a0and Loopy Loyalty<\/a>\u00a0you can have digital memberships and digital loyalty cards that are easy to distribute. They also easily connect you to your customers. These integrate directly into Apple\u2019s Passbook (native – already on the\u00a0phone) and Google Wallet<\/a>, which Android users most likely have already downloaded. These passes also integrate with BLE technology and allow for businesses to send proximity based notifications\/updates as well as lock-screen\u00a0notifications, alerting the customer of any new promotions.
\nSecondly, you may be interested in having\u00a0the ability for your customers to view your site, this would allow for them to fully experience what your business has to offer. If utilizing the mobile wallet<\/a>, all you need is a mobile website, which you should have anyway<\/a>. The mobile wallet is capable of sending customers directly to your website through links that are built directly into the back of the pass. But what if you want a more targeted interactive experience?
\nEnter Eddystone-URL. Eddystone BLE Beacons have\u00a0the ability to send a URL directly to any user based on their proximity. This allows for a business to send out relevant information to their consumers without an app. For example, instead of a restaurant needing an app in order for customers to view their menu and place an order, they can build it into a website and push a proximity based notification with the URL via an Eddystone BLE Beacon right to the customers phone. This would allow for the customer to receive this link as they sit down at table, just the same as if the restaurant had a beacon enabled app.
\nLastly, once\u00a0at a table. Another Eddystone BLE beacon can push the user to download a digital coupon to their native mobile wallet – offering\u00a0a brand experience or discount.\u00a0Instead of forcing them to download an app, they can eat and enjoy the experience.<\/p>\nKey Eddystone BLE Beacon takeaway<\/h3>\n
Major Beacon Barriers Broken<\/h3>\n
\n[thrive_leads id=’7764′]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"