Apple iBeacon in Rubens House Art Gallery: Bringing Art to Life

|

For those who are not aware, a ´Beacon´ is a physical object that is hung in a room, e.g. in a store or a museum. This device is wireless. It is battery-powered and uses the most recent Bluetooth technology. Via Apple´s iBeacon technology, a beacon sends a ´push´ message to the iPhone or iPad of people passing by. You can create any message, like: “the clothes on this shelf are on sale” or: “discover the painted-over drawing that hides beneath this work of art.” The technology also works for smartphones and tablets with Android.

Aside from pushing offers and discounts, Apple’s new iBeacon technology provides a whole different way at creating native location based interaction with iOS devices. A good example comes from Rubens House Art Gallery in Antwerp. Using Estimote iBeacons, the art gallery has created “location based” beacons that interact directly with an iOS app allowing visitors to discover a new level of detail via tablet with each piece of art, or locations inside the gallery. It’s a pretty straight forward example of smartphone apps for promoting your brand.