Proximity is Samsung’s answer to Apple’s iBeacon

Samsung launched Proximity yesterday, a technology that delivers content directly to people’s smartphones based on their location. This is the South Korean technology giant’s answer to iBeacon, the location-based content delivery system that Apple released last year, which the company claimed simplify payments and offers for retailers.

According to ZDNet, Proximity “connects consumers with places via Samsung’s location and context aware technology,” which is a collection of third-party beacons that interact with the official Samsung Proximity Service app. Marketers are also provided with a web console that includes tools such as location and campaign management and analytics.

How this affects consumers is, as explained by Engadget, let’s say that you’re at Macy’s looking for a nice new cashmere shawl. If that Macy’s store has Proximity set up, the store could tell you what items are on sales, what might match your current selection, and a plethora of other useful information, all of which would be sent to your smartphone.

One of the advantages that Proximity has over iBeacon is that it doesn’t require users to install outside apps in order to make the features work, which is one of the biggest issues that’s hindering the growth of iBeacon. Since Samsung’s alternative doesn’t use this method, it might convince people to reexamine the technology.