Chapter 1. Welcome to iBeacon

Welcome to iBeacon—a range of opportunity! Back in the summer of 2013, Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, quietly announced that iOS 7 would feature iBeacon and ended months of speculation about when iOS devices would feature Near Field Communication (NFC)—the answer was that they didn't.

During the conference, Craig touched on why Apple devices wouldn't feature NFC when he discussed the new sharing features of AirDrop. He said, "There's no need to wander around the room bumping your phone with others." This, in a nutshell, shows the reason behind choosing iBeacon technology and the amazing commercial potential versus the limitations of the NFC technology, as iBeacon's range massively exceeds that of NFC.