Twitter has invested an undisclosed sum in Boston-based proximity marketing specialist Swirl, hinting the social media platform could be looking at using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to push messages. The social media giant has invested alongside Hearst Ventures, Softbank Capital and others in an $18m series-C round, taking the total raised by Swirl so far to $32m... More
Beacons
SnapScan rolls out beacon payments in South Africa
South African mobile payments company SnapScan has rolled out Bluetooth beacon based in-store mobile payments at 50 merchants in Cape Town and Johannesburg... More
TfL tests guide beacons for the blind
Transport for London (TfL) is testing the use of Bluetooth beacons that work with a mobile app to provide guidance to visually impaired passengers travelling on the London Underground... More
SXSW to deploy 1,000 beacons
The organizers of the annual SXSW music and film festival are working with Gimbal, RightRound and Urban Airship to place 1,000 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons around the event’s venues... More
Pizza Hut could let customers order and pay for pizza from their cars
Pizza Hut is testing a proof-of-concept “connected car” system that would let its customers order and pay for pizza from their vehicle before identifying themselves when arriving at the restaurant through Bluetooth beacons placed in designated parking bays... More
Niemann Foods rolls out beacon marketing
Niemann Foods has installed a Bluetooth beacon marketing platform provided by Birdzi in eight of its County Market stores and plans to roll out the solution to all its 45 County Market locations in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri in the coming months... More
White paper identifies clear consumer preference for NFC
NFC Technology: How Changing Consumer Preferences Create New Opportunities For Retailers, a 26-page white paper that presents the results of a Strategy Analytics and NFC Forum study into US consumer attitudes to NFC, QR codes and Bluetooth beacons in retail, is now available to download from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre... More
Brooklyn Museum reports on BLE issues
Brooklyn Museum has produced an in-depth report that examines the practical issues it experienced implementing and managing a network of Bluetooth beacons... More
Bluetooth beacons to generate new revenue stream for mobile banking apps
2,500 US banks and credit unions will soon be able to add an “additional potential revenue source” by sending out branded, local offers to users of their mobile banking apps... More
NFC gets 75% approval rating from US consumers
The speed, convenience and control of NFC have made it a clear winner with the American public in a study conducted by Strategy Analytics for the NFC Forum... More
LA Metro to get Bluetooth beacons
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is planning to pilot Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons in Los Angeles’ Union Station to track a commuter’s journey and send out relevant information directly to their smartphone... More
Facebook to test Bluetooth beacons in New York
Facebook has unveiled a new service called Place Tips that works with Bluetooth beacons, WiFi and GPS to show the social network’s iOS app users “useful and relevant” information about the places they visit... More
Urevu unveils wearable BLE beacons for customer reviews
Shop owners and service providers could in future get real-time feedback on the service delivered by individual members of their staff, and thus improve the experience delivered to customers, thanks to a new mobile app from New York-based startup uRevu... More
Chocolate shop sweet talks tourists with Bluetooth beacons
The largest producer of confectionery in Latvia has installed Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons in its stores in the capital Riga to send information directly to a customer’s smartphone in the default language of their device... More
Apple Watch owners to get beacon promos at Marsh Supermarkets
US grocery chain Marsh Supermarkets is to use Bluetooth beacons to deliver targeted information such as shopping lists and recipes directly to a shopper’s Apple Watch or smartphone, marking the “world’s first iBeacon-wearable integration at retail”... More
Calorie counting app uses Bluetooth beacons in fridges to help users lose weight
Carrot, a suite of mobile apps designed to push users into better behaviours, has added a calorie-counting app that works in conjunction with a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon placed inside a fridge to help users lose weight, by keeping track of their daily calorie intake and punishing them for overeating... More
CardMobili adds beacons to mobile wallet
CardMobili has added support for Bluetooth beacon-based marketing services to its digital wallet platform... More
Shazam adds support for Bluetooth beacons
Music recognition app Shazam has partnered with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) specialist Gimbal to add support for Bluetooth beacons to its platform... More
Pey equips merchants with Bitcoin POS terminals that support iBeacon, QR and NFC
Fifty merchants in the German city of Hannover have signed up to accept Bitcoin payments using a terminal supplied by startup Pey, that uses a combination of iBeacon, QR code and NFC technology. More
Verifone and Samsung to offer Android mPOS
Verifone and Samsung have announced a global partnership to deliver Android-based mobile point of sale (mPOS) solutions to multi-lane and enterprise retailers... More