Hamill clueless as usual
iBeacon uses part of the open Bluetooth 4 spec for the beacon data. There's been nothing stopping Android users using this. The only difference is that built in to iOS is code that, when it spots a beacon packet, looks at the GUID, tries to find an installed app that uses this ID and launches it if found.
This is all opt in stuff, and is easy to disable. Android owners likewise have to install an app, and it has to be scanning bluetooth in the background. There is no spying involved, it's all open and obvious.