Tag: wearables

Athletes use wearable technology to gain performance advantage

| November 3, 2014

A growing number of sports pros are being spotted with wearables that have sensors meant to provide bio-feedback.

As wearable technology just starts to gain a little bit of interest from regular consumers, professional athletes are being spotted with these gadgets to help to gain an edge over their competition.

These devices are helping during the training sessions of the athletes, to better understand their performance.

Among the rising number of athletes using wearable technology have been Amar’e Stoudemire, from the New York Knicks in the NBA, as well as Dwayne De Rosario from the Toronto FC in Major League Soccer. They have each been spotted using performance sensors to get the most out of the understanding of the way that they are performing in practices so that they can make the appropriate changes in order to enhance their capabilities.

Some teams have been spotted with wearable technology on all of the players during practice.

Wearable Technology - SoccerFor example, the Toronto FC Major League Soccer club is now using wearables on all of its players during their practices in order to better understand the workload and heart rate of each individual player. The coaches and doctors for the team then use the data that has been collected through these devices to know when a player should be taken from the field or when to slow them down in order to be able to avoid injuries and to ensure the best possible performance.

That team is actually not new to wearables. In fact, it has been using them for around five years. At that time, players admitted that they didn’t see the point to it – including De Rosario, who has completely changed his opinion on the tech. He said that “Even the coaches and I were like, ‘This is a joke, you know?’”

That said, over time the opinion of wearable technology has changed. He added that “as the years have passed and it progresses, we take it more and more seriously… Things have definitely evolved in terms of the importance of tracking the data and how useful the therapists and the trainers are finding it.”

Consumers want wearable technology, but at a lower price

| October 31, 2014

Recent research has revealed that while wearables are drawing interest, most won’t pay over $300 for them.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find an electronics and mobile devices maker that has not come up with its own version of wearable technology, but while recent studies have shown that many consumers are very interested in this tech, the price tag is creating a barrier to adoption.

Wearables are coming out in the form of everything from smartwatches to clothing, glasses, jewelry, and more.

Despite the fact that there are many different offerings within the wearable technology category, it is clearly an industry that remains in its infancy as companies have not yet come up with the strategy that will ensure that the majority consumers will be willing to buy these devices and like them enough that they will be willing to replace them as new generations of wearables are released. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study has provided considerable insight into this struggle.

The research asked 1,000 consumers in the United States about their opinions with regards to wearable technology.

Wearable Technology for lower costWhat it showed was that many Americans do already have one of these devices, at least in some form, and that they have high hopes with regards to their benefits. The data showed that around one in five people in the U.S. currently has some type of wearable technology device, such as a wrist band or a digital pedometer that will connect with their computers or smartphones.

That said, a surprising 56 percent of the people who took part in the PwC study also felt that these mobile gadgets (more specifically, those that allow for bio-feedback such as fitness trackers, sleep trackers, and those that monitor heart rate) will help a person to boost his or her life expectancy by a decade. Equally, just under 42 percent of the participants believed that wearables could help an individual to boost his or her athletic ability and overall fitness level.

That said, while 21 percent of the participants actually own some form of wearable technology device, only 10 percent of the total respondents actually use their gadget on a daily basis. Moreover, there is a price limit to the amount that they would spend. Only 5 percent said that they would be willing to pay $300 for a device in this category, while even fewer – 4 percent – said that they would be willing to pay $500. Only time will reveal whether or not the $349 price tag of the Apple Watch will make that product cost prohibitive.