Hey, Tanuj from Estimote here. Stickers and Beacons are meant to be complementary products. Beacons are great to attaching to fixed points inside venues - museums, stores, sports stadiums, etc. They add location context to a physical space. Stickers, on the other hand, are small and discrete enough to be attached to objects. Put it on any item to turn it into a nearable, a smart, connected object that broadcasts data about its location, motion and temperature. You can read more about our vision on our blog: http://blog.estimote.com/post/95382199590/nearables-are-here...
Ok, but the sticker will broadcast like an iBeacon correct?
While I see the philosophical distinction you are making here I don't see any technical reason why a sticker couldn't be used as a beacon. So I guess my question is, are stickers crippled by your SDK/firmware to not replace beacons or can they be used as such if someone didn't care about the philosophical difference?
Yup it'll broadcast like an iBeacon. So yes, if you wanted to use stickers instead of beacons because the price / size / aesthetic / whatever suits your needs better, that's possible and 100% up to you. Our goal is to be super developer focused and make the platform (hardware + firmware + SDK's + API's for management) flexible.