Tag: Geolocation

The technology giant has found a unique way to personalize the in store shopping experience.

Apple has now debuted its Bluetooth based in store retail mobile marketing geolocation technology called iBeacon, which gives companies the opportunity to communicate with shoppers who have entered their shops at exactly the moment that they are most receptive to it.

This in store geolocation technology is starting to work its way into a growing number of stores.

This form of retail mobile marketing makes it possible for users of iPhones who have the App Store app and whose Bluetooth device feature is turned on (in a device running iOS 7) to receive messages from a store that they have entered that will help to enhance their shopping experience. It could alert them regarding a promotion that is available in the store, provide them with the information that they need to upgrade a purchase, or even turn by turn in store directions to whatever product the shopper is seeking.

Although the concept behind this retail mobile marketing technology isn’t new, it does have its own Apple spin.

This version of geofencing gives retailers the ability to use this type of technology with much greater ease. When using iBeacon, it means that they can use effective “micro location” targeting. There are also great possibilities being seen by locations that have nothing to do with retail, such as museums, theme parks, green parks, or large events. The immediate success of the tech could mean that there could be a sharp spike in the use of these methods in a very short period of time.

At the same time, though, Apple isn’t the only player in this sphere. Google also has a keen interest in geolocation. However, until now, much of their attention has been placed on NFC technology, which was predicted to be a massive player but that is not experiencing nearly the explosion that many investors had hoped.

The leader in this style of retail mobile marketing has yet to be seen, but it will depend on the willingness of both retailers and consumers to opt in. There are a number of issues that could come into play, here, including the types of technologies that are most readily available, those most commonly used by consumers, and the willingness of consumers to hand over personal and location data to retailers on yet another level.

Recent revelations are shocking smartphone owners who are finding that their locations are being collected.

It has now been revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) is using geolocation technology to track the location of billions of mobile phones around the world every day, even though it looks as though a very small fraction of one percent of the data is ever actually used.

It is estimated that this tech is collecting location data for around 5 billion different devices each day.

The massive NSA database currently includes “at least hundreds of millions of devices” according to reports that have been made by The Washington Post. This data is used to allow authorities to be able to use geolocation technology to locate “cellphones anywhere in the world, retrace their movements and expose hidden relationships among the people using them.”

The use of the geolocation technology for data collection by the NSA is labeled as “incidental”.

Incidental data collection is a legal term that describes a result that is “foreseeable but not deliberate” by the company that is obtaining the information. That said, the activities of the NSA have been heavily criticized by privacy groups. For example, the American Civil Liberties Union released a statement that said “It is staggering that a location-tracking program on this scale could be implemented without any public debate.”

They also added to their statement that the “dragnet surveillance” that is going on to collect data regarding hundreds of millions of mobile devices “flouts our international obligation” for respecting the privacy rights of everyone from Americans to those from other countries.

These most recent discoveries have occurred at nearly the same time that Microsoft had revealed that it intends to implement greater methods of encryption. At the same time, they have been labeling the snooping from the government as being an “advanced persistent threat” when compared to cyber attacks and malware.

From among the information that is collected by the NSA through geolocation technology, they insist that only “a tiny fraction of 1 percent” is actually ever used, as the agency uses a powerful analytical program (known as Co-Traveler) in order to determine which targets to actually observe.