Earlier this year, Major League Baseball pledged to have twenty ballparks outfitted with iBeacons by Opening Day as part of its initial rollout phase. And it did. Stadiums in Boston, San Diego, L.A. and many more cities now feature the tech.
Today, TechCrunch is reporting that the MLB is now entering the second phase of the initiative. And apparently it’s planning to debut a special project at the 2014 All-Star Game, which is slated for July 15 at Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota…
Here’s more from TechCrunch:
Now, the project is entering phase two, with a debut project at this year’s All-Star Game at Target Field that uses iBeacons combined with in-park attractions to offer additional content and interactive features to the exhibits via their devices.
There are nine separate attractions in Target Field that users of the updated At the Ballpark app can access, and MLB plans to roll out more iBeacons to additional ballparks over the coming year. The new phase also works in Apple’s favor, demonstrating to potential iBeacon users what other kinds of functionality besides simple check-ins that the hyperlocal transmitters can enable for in-person customers and visitors. This attraction roll out seems like a prime example of how museums might be able to employ iBeacon tech, for instance.
Apple first introduced its iBeacon technology at WWDC in 2013. The tech enables organizations and retailers to push out data to mobile devices based on their location, and it has already been implemented in various retail and grocery chains.
In addition to the new iBeacon features, Major League Baseball has also introduced updates to its At Bat and At the Ballpark apps in preparation for the upcoming All-Star weekend. We’ve listed both change logs below, starting with the At Bat app.
What’s New in Version 7.3.0
• All-Star Week 2014 events support with live coverage
• Watch the All-Star Futures Game and Home Run Derby live from Target Field
• MLB.TV Premium subscribers can watch the live stream of the 85th All-Star Game
• Breaking news live alert integration into news reader
• Overall usage improvements
And here’s the change log for At the Ballpark:
What’s New in Version 3.2.1
• INTRODUCING INTERACTIVE BALLPARK ATTRACTIONS: Debuting for All-Star Week 2014 at Target Field (Minnesota Twins). Explore ballpark attractions and unique features and automatically get exclusive content using iBeacon(TM) technology.
• NEW: Upgraded maps for all 30 ballparks with streamlined navigation, updated categories and new integrated ballpark attractions.
• General usage improvements.Note: Interactive Ballpark Attractions coming soon to additional ballparks using iBeacon(TM) technology.
If you’re interested, you can pick up MLB.com At Bat for free in the App Store—although it does require a subscription of $2.99 per month. MLB.com At the Ballpark is also free in the App Store, and this is what you’ll need when going to games.