CES was buzzing with "iBeacons." The National Retail Federation (NRF) show was also filled with iBeacons - lots of demos, including those by Estimote, Mobiquity, Qualcomm, etc. However, Apple has not finalized its iBeacon API spec yet and the FCC needs to approve any radio waves emitting devices for mass consumer deployment in US. So, which iBeacons have been certified by Apple and approved by the FCC, you ask? What are the consequences? Companies can be fined up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for distribution of unauthorized communications device!
IndoorLBS has conducted a survey and asked vendors the
following questions resulting in the corresponding answers:
Have your iBeacons
been certified by Apple?
Have your iBeacons
been approved by the FCC in the US?
For example, as of Jan 7 2014, Estimote (Nordic Semiconductor) is seeking
FCC approval and “wishes to have it done in a couple of weeks.” Nordic told
IndoorLBS on Jan 8th that “Estimote Beacons are currently pending
FCC approval. It should be a matter of weeks now.”
More details can be found in our iBeacons report here.
