Sōhōkō is a cloud platform for associating content and defining interactions with Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) beacons.<p>Existing platforms in this space are largely focused on pushing content (with a bias towards marketing); our platform is focused on bi-directional experiences between users and hot-spots of interaction represented by beacons.  Apps running on Sōhōkō can share users, beacons, and content, which helps app discovery.<p>Instead of launching the platform directly, we plan to build it through internal dog-fooding as we build the first set of applications available on the platform.  These first apps will be focused around letting individual users create experiences with a single beacon.<p>The first app we are building is Sōhōkō Messenger, a messaging app where BLE beacons are used to deliver messages contextually.  Instead of a message being sent when composed, delivery is triggered when either the sender or the recipient enter or exit the region of a beacon they have shared with each other.  In the single-user use-case, this could be used to send contextual reminders; when sharing a beacon with friends, family, or co-workers, this provides a new way to receive messages in the right context and we feel this creates a little nicer feeling compared to the current state of affairs where we send messages regardless of the recipient&#x27;s context.  We feel such a personal use-case is a great place to start because messaging in the home is a place where we will be forced to be very careful about protecting user privacy.<p>400M beacons are estimated to be deployed by 2020[1], creating a revenue opportunity from micro-transactions for user interactions payed by developers on the platform.<p>Short term, there will be some revenue from premium app features and in-app beacon sales, but will mainly be from SDK licensing and developer partnerships with early adopters.<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;sohoko.io<p>1. http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;ny-unacast-idUSnBw265779a+100+BSW20160126
Apply HN: Sohoko.io – iBeacon Cloud Platform for Interactivity, Not Marketing