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Comparison of Eddystone and iBeacon – Which One is Better?

Comparison of Eddystone and iBeacon – Which One is Better?

In mid of 2013, Apple launched iBeacon globally at its Worldwide Developers Conference.  It was the foremost device maker to incorporate a beacon protocol standard into an operating system. Google has finally entered beacon space in 2015 with its own standard known as Eddystone, named after a famous Coastal lighthouses of England. Let see the difference between the two beacon protocols to see which is one better for your project!

Eddystone

  • Earlier Google’s Eddystone was called UriBeacon. It is a beacon protocol for open source beacons which could be manufactured by any industry at reasonable rates.
  • Eddystone-URL does not need a custom app but needs a beacon browser .Advantage: you don’t need to develop an app.
  • Eddystone has a built in feature known as Ephemeral Identifier (EIDs) which always keep changing and allow beacons for broadcasting a signal that can be recognized by authorized clients.
  • It is flexible but needs more complex coding when it comes to integration, since it sends more packets of information compared to iBeacon.
  • It is Android and iOS friendly. In fact, it is cross-platform and therefore, it is friendly with any platform that supports BLE beacons.
  • It has additional features like Telemetry data which can be used by the company to handle large numbers
  • They can report analytic data, remain battery power and firmware version.
  • It is open source. Therefore, developers and businesses can add and access to it.

iBeacon

  • iBeacon is a beacon protocol which has been manufactured into Apple’s iOS 7 and advance versions of the mobile operating system which allows an iPhone or iPad to connect to objects – called beacons – using Bluetooth. Beacons use a technology called Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It is part of Bluetooth 4.0 specification.
  • On other hand iBeacon need an app to receive that particular UUID to be able to participate.
  • While iBeacon does not have any feature like EIDs. The Signal communicated by a beacon is a public signal and can be identified by any iOS device and some Android devices with appropriate conditions.
  • It is easy to implement.
  • It is Android and iOS friendly, but native only for iOS.
  • It is a registered software. Therefore, the specification is organized by Apple.
Eddystone’s entrance into the beacon world has certainly new game for Beacon technology. It open source platform of BLE and according to ABI Research, it will be leading standard in the beacon industry by 2020.

By Brijesh Kamani – Mr. Kamani is the CEO of Teksun Group

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