What are the advantages of using iBeacon + Passbook over using geo-fencing and push notifications for helping brands navigate customer relationships? What can you do using the iBeacon + Passbook approach that you can't do using geo-fencing and push notifications?
1 Answers
4
votes
first note that geolocation alerts and push notifications are two separate things.
Passbook will trigger a Lockscreen alert if a Pass has been encoded with:
- a geolocation trigger (up to 10 locations)
- a datetime trigger (only applicable for Event, Generic or BoardingPass types)
- an iBeacon proximity trigger (up to 10 beacon IDs)
Lockscreen alerts are silent - the user only sees them when they turn on their iPhone. Also - your server is not notified when they are triggered.
Push notifications can be sent at any time .. They will alert the user immediately with a beep, phone vibrate and pop-up message (unless you send a silent Pass update).
Advantages of Passbook + iBeacons
- Passbook is installed by default on every iPhone.. No App to develop & market
- iBeacons trigger proximity alerts if the user's iPhone is within 10-70m of the beacon (depending on beacon range settings)
- iBeacons work well for indoor applications - eg shopping malls, airports, museums - where GPS signals would lump multiple locations together. They offer more precision with your alerts
- Using geolocation + iBeacons you can have up to 20 alerts instead of 10 per Pass
