Mobile offers platform Shopkick, which is working with a number of high profile US retailers to roll out a network of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons, has been acquired by SK Planet (SKP), operator of Korea’s largest shopper rewards program and part of the same group as carrier SK Telecom... More
Miami International Airport has become the first in the world to use an open approach to deploying Bluetooth beacons across its footprint... More
Amazon customers can now add items to their wish list directly from Twitter... More
Memory card standards group the SD Association has expanded its iSDIO specification to include support for TransferJet, a short range contactless communications technology that enables data to be transferred between devices at high speed... More
Barclays is to provide its UK corporate banking customers with finger vein biometric authentication devices that will let them “easily access their online bank accounts and authorise payments within seconds, without the need for PIN, passwords or authentication codes.”... More
Graceland, the former home of Elvis Presley and now a major tourist attraction, is offering every visitor the use of an iPad that works in conjunction with Bluetooth beacons placed around the Memphis mansion to help guests navigate the attraction and “trigger additional content including videos, trivia and more.”... More
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons are being attached to the trays of roving snack and drink vendors for football matches taking place at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australia this month... More
A café in Palo Alto, California is using a new service developed by startup Downtown that lets customers order and pay for their meals with their mobile phone... More
UK sports fashion chain JD has installed Bluetooth beacons at its new concept store in Manchester’s Trafford Centre, letting customers who have downloaded the JD app “access exclusive store content and shop from the app before paying in-store.” The store also features eight multi-channel kiosks and a social media wall, and staff have been equipped with iPads “to assist with customers’ enquiries.”... More
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon maker Estimote has introduced a new product category that it calls “nearables”, stickers that contain a Bluetooth Smart controller, an ARM processor and both an accelerometer and a temperature sensor... More
Publisher IPC Media is using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons installed in 740 One Stop convenience stores across the UK to offer discounted copies of its Chat, Pick Me Up, Woman and TV & Satellite Week magazines... More
The Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco has installed 1,700 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons that can be used “to give people pinpoint directions to their seats as well as to any other place in the stadium,” Time reports... More
Westpac New Zealand is to release a mobile banking app that uses augmented reality and 3D imaging to let customers with an iOS device check their credit and debit card balances, make payments and find their closest bank branch... More
More than 200 US shopping malls are to be equipped with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons by early 2015 as a result of an expanded agreement between retail real estate owner Simon and location-based mobile solutions provider Mobiquity... More
Video game retailer GameStop is deploying Shelfbucks beacons in test markets including Austin and College Station, Texas this month to deliver offers and relevant data to a shopper’s smartphone running a mobile app developed by BestFit Mobile... More
HBC Department Store Group has begun using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons placed around its Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor department stores in Canada and the US “to deliver digital experiences to consumers’ smartphones while they shop”... More
A national in-store mobile marketing campaign that used Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons and geofencing technology to drive sales and awareness of American Craft Link Sausages has seen a 20-fold increase in purchase intent by those exposed to messaging, a 36% increase in brand awareness and a lift in overall sales, owner Hillshire Brands has revealed... More
This year’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has used Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to track how visitors moved around the site so that it can “shape and streamline the festival in the future”... More
US retail chain Target has launched an image recognition app that lets customers buy items from magazine adverts, catalogs and other media showing the retailer’s ‘In a Snap’ icon... More
Korean mobile input technology specialist CrucialTec is developing a fingerprint authentication solution that will replace passwords when consumers access mobile banking services on their smartphones, Korea Herald reports... More