This really needed to happen to help push the physical web forward. Beacons by the suppliers have just been too expensive. Last year at Full Frontal Conf, Scott Jenson said URIBeacons would cost 'a fiver'...but the cheapest I've ever seen has been $15 each (and that's in bulk).
Really glad to see this! Hopefully soon I'll be able to buy dozens of these on the cheap for a serious project.
You can definitely get the hardware for <$15 in bulk if you source it yourself. There's a huge variation in quality though, as with most of the China stuff. If you're willing to deal with the caveats&lock-in of the Gimbal Beacons you can get those for $5.
Feel free to hit me with beacon questions, I've got a bunch of varieties sitting on my desk right now.
Shorter range, proprietary setup/configuration process, cycle IDs (crashing some android bluetooth stacks). They really want you to pay for the backend - wouldn't be surprised if they're sold at cost.
The batteries don't last as long as advertised either, but that's pretty much been true for all of the devices I've tested.
Really glad to see this! Hopefully soon I'll be able to buy dozens of these on the cheap for a serious project.