Apple’s iBeacon technology at forthcoming Coachella Music & Art Festival

From the latest app updates, it is reported that at the forthcoming Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival, the audience will have on-site iBeacons which will push notification with other information to users as they walk the grounds at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.

The 2014 Coachella iOS app includes support for Apple’s iBeacon; Bluetooth enabled micro location technology capable of delivering proximity aware notification, information and navigation to the users. Beacons are a low cost hardware which is small enough to be attached to a wall or countertop which is battery operated, low energy Bluetooth connections to transmit messages directly to a Smartphone or tablet and can be used to transform how retailers, event organizers, educational institutions, transit system etc communicate with people indoors.

Coachella’s website states, ‘Use Bluetooth to interact with beacons placed around the grounds’, though it is unknown how the festival plans are likely to implement this technology. Recent deployments include the NFL’s Super Bowl installation at major events and an interactive scavenger hunt at CES. Apple launched iBeacon enabling it in their stores using Bluetooth and has been making great progress in implementing great products.

iBeacon for in-store help

Customers will find iBeacon a lot helpful while going around shopping and if a store has the system in place, finding in-store help and receiving information related to products, according to the location would be much easier and quicker since iBeacon has the potential of being an inherent part of a shopping activity.

After introducing iBeacon as a part of iOS 7 in the year 2013, third party implementation of the location aware tech are gradually moving out with Major League Baseball announcing plans in February to deploy beacons in over 20 ballparks by opening day.

The Apple Store App uses Bluetooth to gather location based information from iPhone users and while the technology has received mixed reviews, it seems to be a cool concept especially for retailers while others find privacy an issue. Retailers are getting in on the act like Macy’s stores and pilot programs at various grocery stores.

Download App for free at the Festival

Apple takes credit for the largest rollout so far after its installation of beacons last December in US Apple Store and customers using iBeacon have found it helpful with regards to in-store help, avail location aware product information and purchase items quickly with EasyPay.

Recently, the Dutch micro location firm, LabWek, launched mApp an iBeacon based platform which was designed for interactive museum exhibits. Those who will be attending Coachella which is likely to be held from April 11th to 18th can take the opportunity of downloading the app for free from the iOS App store.

Coachella organizer Goldenvoice together with the updated app has also released set time and added new acts to the latest list of performers. The organizers of the popular music and art festival Coachella are all out for iBeacon and the latest update is that the technology is likely to be used during this great event.

The official festival website also states that using the mobile app, attendees can also use Bluetooth to interact with beacons which may be placed all around the ground.