CES 2014 to feature an iBeacon-driven scavenger hunt

BY Kelly Hodgkins

Published 3 Jan 2014

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Though Apple won’t be at CES next week, the company will still have an impressive presence there. According to a press release from CES, the Cupertino company’s iBeacon technology will be used for a scavenger hunt during the show.The iBeacons will interact with the CES mobile app for Android and iOS. As attendees walk through the venue, they will collect badges for each iBeacon they encounter. The first three people who collect all the available badges will receive a special price from CES. Smaller prizes will be awarded to attendees who complete the hunt during the week.

“This promotion is a fun and novel way to introduce attendees to iBeacon technology and encourage participants to visit important exhibits across the show floor,” said Jeff Joseph, senior vice president of communications and strategic relationships at CEA.

The iBeacons use a short-range, low-power bluetooth connection to communicate with a mobile phone for precise indoor navigation. Once a phone moves within 100 feet of the beacon, the phone will receive an alert and an app can respond to this notification. For example, iBeacon technology can be used to pinpoint a person’s location within a store and offer them coupons for the products in their aisle.

The iBeacons at CES are being supplied by Radius Networks, which has created a virtual iBeacon for the Mac and one for the Raspberry Pi.