Overview of how PayPal uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) / Bluetooth Smart within the PayPal Beacon product, which we see as a piece of hardware aimed at revolutionizing physical shopping.

1. Beacon, BLE, and the
Future of Commerce
Jonathan LeBlanc (@jcleblanc)
Global Head of PayPal
Developer Evangelism

3. Connection: Continuous vs Intermittent
Throughput: 0.7-2.1 Mbit/s vs 0.27 Mbit/s
Power Consumption: 1 mW vs 0.01-0.5 mW
Range: 100 meters vs 50 meters

5. Physical Shopping

6. Using the Location

7. How the Technology Works
A transparent bridge from device to IP
Central
Device
Peripheral
Bridge
IP Address
Endpoint

8. A Person Walks into a Store

9. Broadcasting to Connect
Beacon broadcasts
who’s here message
Device
PayPal app wakes up &
connects to beacon
Bridge

10. The Initial Connection
Beacon selects unused
token, sends with nonce,
metadata, and signature
Device
App verifies signature with
public key, decides to
check in via metadata
Bridge

11. Checking in
App sends encrypted checkin
metadata to PayPal
Device
PayPal servers decrypt data
and check consumer in
Endpoint

12. Wrapping Things Up
PayPal servers send
encrypted message back
Device
App decrypts / verifies
message & disconnects
Endpoint

13. Point of Sale Integration

14. Don’t be Creepy

15. What’s in Store for Us?

16. Thank You!
Jonathan LeBlanc (@jcleblanc)
Global Head of PayPal
Developer Evangelism