NEW YORK (AP) — GPS will tell you how to get to the nearest Apple store. With iBeacon, Apple hopes to guide you around once you're inside, whether it's to pick up an order, upgrade to a new iPhone or shop for a pair of headphones.


On Friday, Apple Inc. will begin using the technology at its 254 U.S. stores to send you messages about products, events and other information — tailored to where you are inside, provided you have downloaded the Apple Store app and have given Apple permission to track you.


Using the iBeacon feature, the app will notify you if the computer you ordered is ready to be picked up, for example. Show a clerk your screen with the order number, and the clerk will get it for you. Walking by an iPhone table? You may get a message asking if you want to upgrade, check your upgrade availability and see if you can get money for trading in your old phone.


The company demonstrated the technology to The Associated Press this week at its busy, 24-hour Fifth Avenue store in New York City. At this particular store, Apple has installed about 20 iBeacon transmitters, some of which are simply iPhones and iPads, which come with the capability as part of the iOS 7 mobile software released in September. The transmitters use Bluetooth wireless technology to sense your exact location. That's not possible with GPS, which don't work well indoors and aren't good at distinguishing between locations that are just a few feet apart.


The beacons can be adjusted to specific distances, so you may get some notifications regardless of where you are inside. Others will come only when you are standing at a particular aisle, wall or product demo table. The store can also send out notifications about deals or upcoming events.


The implications go beyond Apple stores. One day, commuters might get information on subway delays as they stand on the platform, while museum visitors might get details on the painting they are standing in front of. Other retailers, of course, will be also able to offer special deals or track which aisle shoppers spend the most time at.


In-store location technology does raise privacy concerns, though many shoppers have shown a willingness to be tracked if there's something in it for them.


Major League Baseball already plans to use the technology next year to customize fans' experiences at its ballparks, provided they download the At The Ballpark app to their iPhones or iPads and have iOS 7 installed. In a demo earlier this year, MLB officials showed how the app can offer special features based on users' location in a stadium, such as coupons in the souvenir shop or a video that plays near landmarks.


Apple is not the first to offer in-store location technology. An app called Shopkick, for example, sends users discounts when they enter Macy's, J.C. Penney and other stores. But Apple's entry into micro-location puts the nascent technology into the hands of thousands of developers and broadens its reach considerably.


Apple said iBeacon provides apps with "a whole new level of micro-location awareness, such as trail markers in a park, exhibits in a museum, or product displays in stores."


To take advantage of this, make sure you have Bluetooth enabled on your phone and download the Apple Store app. You'll have to agree to let Apple track your location and to receive notifications while in the store. It'll only work if you say yes to both as you set up the app.


The app will automatically switch to "in-store mode" once you enter. Even without iBeacon, the app already lets you scan and pay for some items using your phone, get customer service help and reserve products.


Location tracking does raise privacy worries. After all, shoppers may not want their every move watched and recorded inside a store. Apple, however, said that it does not collect information about shoppers inside its stores. But other companies using iBeacon could, as long as people who download their apps agree to be tracked.


Privacy advocates have raised concerns about the various ways that retailers track shoppers, whether it's their location, purchase history or how often they visit a store. But consumers often agree to be tracked in exchange for discounts.



Earlier on HuffPost:




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  • Tim Cook Goes To China


    Apple's problem of allegedly poor working conditions at its suppliers' factories in China had been known for some time, but this year Cook actually stepped up and did something about it. After the <em>New York Times</em> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?_r=1" target="_hplink">published an expose</a> on the human cost of manufacturing an iPad, Cook went to China to visit manufacturing sites. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?_r=1" target="_hplink">Steve Jobs reportedly never set foot in a Chinese factory</a>.

    More substantially than a PR stunt, Cook also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/13/apple-foxconn-fair-labor-association_n_1273915.html" target="_hplink">asked</a> the D.C.-based Fair Labor Association to independently audit Foxconn's and other's component manufacturing facilities. Investigators found that laborers often worked <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/foxconn-apple-factories-labor-violations_n_1389392.html" target="_hplink">more than 60 hours per week</a> in March. Since then, Apple reportedly <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/apple-foxconn-audit_n_1819701.html?utm_hp_ref=technology" target="_hplink">sketched out a timeline</a> for having workers work sane schedules.




  • Tim Cook Doesn't Make Employees' Lives Miserable


    OK, so we can't exactly speak for <em>every</em> single one of Apple's <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000119312511282113/d220209d10k.htm" target="_hplink">60,000 employees</a>, but there are few indications that underlings are happier under Cook than they were under Jobs. <a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/05/24/apple-tim-cook-ceo/" target="_hplink">As <em>Fortune</em>'s Adam Lashinsky wrote</a> of an annual retreat for top execs in April, "the spirit of the meeting was upbeat and even fun [...] a stark contrast to the grim and fearful tone Jobs engendered at the meetings." Indeed, peppered throughout Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs are many episodes of Jobs berating his workers for their incompetence. Cook, in contrast, seems like a leveler head.




  • Tim Cook Is Not A Scrooge McDuck


    Steve Jobs was many things, but "charitable" wasn't one of them. But just a week into Cook's tenure, <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2011/09/08/tim-cook-announces-new-charity-matching-service-for-apple-employees/" target="_hplink">the new CEO started a program</a> in which Apple matches dollar-for-dollar any charitable donation made to a nonprofit, up to $10,000. Such gift-matching systems are standard at many American companies; but this was a first for Apple. To boot, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03/apple-charity-donation_n_1253185.html" target="_hplink">Apple under Cook also gave away $50 million to Stanford hospitals</a>.

    By contrast, Jobs <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/the-mystery-of-steve-jobss-public-giving/" target="_hplink"> personally didn't have any public record of giving to charity</a> and once reportedly employees that <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/2/2766403/tim-cook-apple-charity-project-red-stanford" target="_hplink">Apple giving away money was a waste of time</a>. Jerk moves.




  • Tim Cook Shares Some Of Apple's Massive Pile Of Cash


    This ain't exactly charity, but it is a good thing. While Jobs wasn't one to give to investors any of Apple's trucks-full of cash in the form of dividends or stock buyback, Cook is fine with it. In February, <a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/19/apples-dividend-and-buyback-what-the-analysts-are-saying/" target="_hplink">Apple issued a $2.65-per-quarter dividend and promised to buy $10 million worth in stock back from investors</a>. In short, Cook wanted to reward investors, both big and small, for the years they'd keep their money in the company.




  • Tim Cook Has Made Apple A Ton Of Money


    Of course, the most important thing for investors is the stock price itself -- and wow, it's doing fantastic. In one year, Cook has made Apple 77 percent richer. On his first day, a share of Apple was trading for $376. As as I write this, it's trading for $667. That ends up being an additional $353 <em>billion</em>. Of course Jobs should be credited with the upward trajectory he left the company with, but it was Cook who guided the company to that high.