Heading to the coffee shop or a local bar in the future with your iOS 7 device might net you some Newsstand reading as a London digital publishing company is starting to trial iBeacons to offer magazines to patrons. In this case, the bar buys a subscription to the magazine, and then by way of iBeacons will unlock the content to anyone within range with a compatible device.
Once you then leave the establishment and you're out of range of the iBeacons, the content locks itself up again. It's a pretty imaginative idea, since we're used to seeing magazines and newspapers supplied in bars, coffee shops, hairdressers and many other different public places, why not go digital?
For the publishers too it's a great way of getting their content out there in a kind of free trial environment. They're being paid for the content being made available, and if someone likes what they're reading, maybe they'll get their own personal subscription? For the consumers, it's a free magazine to read while you're having your coffee.
iBeacons could open up a whole world of possibilities, what would you like to see done with them?
Source: TechCrunch
