RSSI imprecision inherent in BTLE is exactly the point I wanted to make. The marketing around BTLE focuses on "micro locations" but I feel that that's misleading given that in the real world, you cannot reliably get even approximate precision (let's say 5 feet) let alone micro precision. Human walking speed alone is enough to blow the whole "micro" concept out of the water.
Another sticking point for me is the battery life. The transmitters are touted as low energy, which they are, being able to transmit for 2 years on a watch coin battery is amazing. However, a transmitter is useless without a receiver (did the tree really fall...) and the receiver is going to be anything but low energy if has to continually scan and compare surrounding signals. Granted, my demo receiver app was as unoptimized as you can get (one day of coding plus I am not even an iOS developer) but at the same time, it didn't do much but look for signal, and it was chomping through battery at an alarming rate. It was ok for a 5 minute demo but I can't imagine real users would put up with this for long.
Given these two limitations, I have a hard time imagining wide adoption.
They are not exactly "micro locations" (as far as I concern), it's more like proximity (did something get close?). And I think people should set their expectations of BTLE straight.
There could be different kind of receivers. It could be something plugged into the wall and it doesn't have to consider battery consumption any more. And if the transmitter is transmitting at a high enough frequency, an iphone running in background mode could still pick up a signal really quick and conserve battery at the same time.
The thing is they dont't have to work as a receiver. It's enough to pinpoint you to given location using data sent by iBeacon. Everything else can happen between your smartphone and web-based services that would provide more context, data or feedback to your actions.
Another sticking point for me is the battery life. The transmitters are touted as low energy, which they are, being able to transmit for 2 years on a watch coin battery is amazing. However, a transmitter is useless without a receiver (did the tree really fall...) and the receiver is going to be anything but low energy if has to continually scan and compare surrounding signals. Granted, my demo receiver app was as unoptimized as you can get (one day of coding plus I am not even an iOS developer) but at the same time, it didn't do much but look for signal, and it was chomping through battery at an alarming rate. It was ok for a 5 minute demo but I can't imagine real users would put up with this for long.
Given these two limitations, I have a hard time imagining wide adoption.