I had some questions from an investor, so thought I would post a couple of them here for all
Q1- The beacon technology could be superior to a normal phone GPS locator, but it seems only when very precise proximity is needed on multiple floors (since the GPS wouldn’t be able to differentiate what floor someone is on). Are there other reasons why someone doing the same with GPS, will not be a good competitor?
GPS is simply not adequate for proximity marketing even with one store one beacon. Think of bigger stores Habitat for Humanity is using 4 beacons in a store, depending
where in the store you are - GPS cannot do this. We have no concern about any GPS technology, like me being concerned racing a horse and buggy with my car.
Q2 -
Then, again, just as Heelo's plan and technology is disruptive, a newer technology could make the new beacon technology and Heelo obsolete, unless Heelo upgrades each time technology upgrades are available. These could be cheaper and someone else does an endrun around Heelo. Or adopting the new technology would make the plan too expensive. Any assurances for these concerns?
That is the nature of technology. At this point there is nothing on the horizon to compete with beacon. We see it dominating proximity marketing led by Heelo of course. I expect there will
be technology improvements and we will adapt. Right now we are the only ones with Blue tooth and Beacon 5.0. It costs competitors a lot to upgrade.
We have the cost advantage and that will deter competition. A great deal of effort was put into the platform to be very low cost. We recently got interest for many locations and they are replacing older beacon technology with Heelo because it is far superior and less than 20% of the cost.
We figure the low cost will make it difficult for new copy cats to compete. We believe we have about an 18 month head start. We are the only beacon platform that supports Apple iphone, a considerable advantage in North America. The Apple hurdle will be tough for competition.
Furthermore, most technology companies can have great technology but they cannot sell. Heelo has another advantage there because of that vast sales expertise of Roy and his close associates.