Korean mobile operator SK Telecom today said it has started its new Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons for indoor positioning.
SK Telecom has developed four discrete BLE beacon models for different types of venues.
Besides the four customized versions of the BLE beacons, SK Telecom has unveiled WIZTURN, an application development platform that enables developers to build location-based services according to their own criteria and needs, as well as software development kits.
In January 2014, Ovum said Bluetooth low energy (BLE) will come to the fore, bringing with it a proliferation in BLE beacon payment services and hyper-location retail applications. However, there is a danger that BLE beacon applications will be subject to hype that inflates what these types of application can deliver while obscuring their limitations.
Park Chol-soon, senior vice president and Head of the Convergence Business Office at SK Telecom, said: “We will continue to expand its indoor positioning products, introducing new beacon service models that can be used in a variety of indoor spaces.”
SK Telecom first implemented indoor location technology using Bluetooth beacons in March 2013 at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. The beacons there are used to provide navigation service via 3D map as part of a smart phone application called Patient Guide App. The hospital was the first in the world to implement beacon-based wayfinding.
In March 2014, Seoul Student Gymnasium, which is home court of the Seoul SK Knights professional basketball team, became the first public location to see the new, updated beacon technology and WIZTURN in action. An application developed for the venue uses beacons to provide navigation services via 3D map as well as location-based promotions. Any smartphone with Bluetooth 4.0 enabled can interact with the beacons and application.
In March 2014, SK Telecom partnered with Telefonica to install beacons at Telefonica’s Corporate Innovation Center, an exhibition site located at the Spanish company’s headquarters in Madrid. At the center, Telefonica showcases Bluetooth beacons and related services to the company’s corporate customers.
Currently, SK Telecom is in talks with Microsoft to provide WIZTURN via Microsoft Cloud. Microsoft Technology Center in Singapore will showcase beacons from May 2014.
2014 is shaping up to be a breakout year for indoor location technologies in retail environments, as early adopters enter the final year of the three-year technology adoption cycle, shifting from trials to full-scale deployments. BLE/iBeacons is creating a wave of second generation start-ups in this space that will help to drive new growth and use cases across all major verticals. Combined, this is expected to result in over 30,000 indoor location installations in 2014, ABI Research said recently.
