Last week Google introduced a delightful surprise with Eddystone. Why is this so exciting? It’s another step in the right direction for beacons. Eddystone is “platform agnostic” meaning it will allow us to seamlessly use Bluetooth beacon technology across iOS and Android. It will even enable us to better integrate beacon technology across iPhone user’s Google apps like Maps and Chrome. Estimote, whom we partner with, “announced support for Eddystone from day one” and Kontakt, another great beacon provider we use, supports Eddystone as well.

What does this mean for museums? Eddystone presents even more opportunities for museums to get the most out of beacons, location-based services, and messaging. Museums can now engage with even more people in even more ways given the popularity of Chrome, Google apps, and iOS (and the handiness of Notification Center). Now that you can set your beacons to broadcast a URL (like your museum’s website), a link to download and use your app can show up in the Notification Center on a visitor’s iPhone. This capability for Android is surely soon to follow.

We’d love to help you and your museum take full advantage. Contact us to get started!