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Bubble, a new app launching this week, is about to make it super easy for anyone to link real world items to websites using Apple’s new iBeacon Bluetooth LE technology. Up until now retailers, event planners, and more have been using iBeacons in order to send relevant notifications to users in proximity, but that required users to actually have that specific retailer’s app installed. Bubble, on the other hand, acts as an iBeacon browser of sorts allowing users to discover web content as they come in contact with real world items.
So not only is the app making it easy for anyone to link a real world item to web content using iBeacons, its providing users with an app to discover the content.
Bubble redefines the way that people build and discover web content using iBeacon technology. We want to get away from the app store paradigm for iBeacon interactions. No one wants to download an app for every place that has iBeacon content. Bubble is a single app through which visitors can discover content anywhere… Bubble tags digital stuff to physical stuff. More specifically, Bubble lets anyone tag a website to a place or thing using an iBeacon. Nearby visitors with the Bubble browser app can seamlessly discover and browse this web content based on their proximity to tagged objects.
It’s still up for debate what approach for iBeacons is best, and if the approach most retailers have adopted of using their own apps to beam shoppers notifications will work for all applications. Other approaches have emerged similar to Bubble, like inMarket’s Mobile to Mortar platform that partners with lots of companies and app developers interested in using iBeacon hardware it’s installed in retail stores. Bubble differs, however, by providing one single app browsing experience for users to discover iBeacon content.
The app will let users register up to three beacons for free, which would be great for small businesses and home users, and will charge $1 per beacon per month after that. More info on the platform is available on the company’s website.
The Bubble browser is available on the App Store here and the separate tag manager app is here.
