Apple Inc. (AAPL) iBeacons installed at two Major League Baseball stadiums

Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iBeacon technology was confirmed by Major League Baseball as being fully installed at two West Coast stadiums this morning, according to several sources. 65 iBeacons are now in place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the largest ballpark in the United States with seating for 56,000 people, and 65 more at Petco Park, a San Diego facility that can seat 45,524 in its current configuration. These stadiums are the homes of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres respectively.

These two confirmations are only the first of a series that will see iBeacons active at nearly two dozen stadiums across the nation by the late March 2014 Opening Day. Key ballparks such as Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers, and the iconic Fenway Park, host to the renowned Boston Red Sox, are also on the list of stadiums which will have the technological system in place and active by the time baseball season starts on March 31st.

Software for iBeacon was included in Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iOS7 mobile platform at its release, laying the groundwork for the implementation seen today. The use of iBeacon for Major League Baseball purposes is second in size only to the massive retail project which is also currently going live. Several thousand sports-related iBeacons should be operational by March 31st, 2014, and the program will likely continue to expand from there.

At ballparks, iBeacon will make use of the already existing and appropriately named “At the Ballpark” app from MLB. This free app includes a wide range of functions, and will become active when baseball enthusiasts bring their mobile Apple (AAPL) devices within a specific range of the iBeacons at one of the participating stadiums. Those using the app will likely benefit from exclusive discounts and rewards available only to those connecting via the high tech system.

Other app functionality includes personalized journal entries so that sports fans can record their presence at sporting events, uploading and sharing of photos, interactive concourse maps to more easily find seats or needed facilities, mobile food and beverage purchases at certain stadiums, ticket purchases, parking information, informative guides, and so on. The individual teams have full control over exactly what content will be offered through their home stadium’s iBeacons.

The iBeacons at the ballparks will communicate with Apple Inc. (AAPL) mobile devices such as iPhones via Bluetooth Low Energy, or Bluetooth LE. This provides quality wireless communication while remaining thrifty with energy use. With this latest move, Apple’s intention to integrate cultural, sporting, and commercial activities more thoroughly into its electronic sphere of influence takes another step into concrete reality.

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