Krzych built a Krakow, Poland ad network called AdTaily that was purchased in 2009 by the largest media group in the nation. His partner and CTO Lukasz Kostka is a computer scientist with expertise in smart cities and big data.
And it wasn’t that they lacked focus for their idea. Estimote is solving a problem that all retailers face. With so many products available online, customers often visit brick-and-mortar stores to see items in person and try them on, but head home to find a better deal or more options online.
Estimote’s network of wireless sensors on products within a store sense a shopper’s location and populate her smartphone screen with the product, its specs, color choices and sizes. There are deals personalized to the shopper and an option to pay for the item in the app and have it shipped home or delivered at the front of the store (for example, in an Ikea store).
The Bluetooth low-energy technology that makes the sensor operate automatically will be built into Apple’s new iOS 7 coming this fall and to mobile operating systems announced by Google and Nokia.
