The new year is not even a week old, but it’s the tech sector’s turn to christen it through the annual Consumer Electronics Show that takes claim of Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 2015 International CES, as it does every year, provides the forum towards setting up the tenor for the year ahead. It’s the time to hype the trends that are in the rearview mirror as well as debunk the ones that are becoming baseless. CES 2015 intends to be a further manifestation of the novel concepts introduced last year, except in a more matured state.
What has previously been somewhat of an afterthought and dispersed throughout the trade show floor, now enters to the forefront, at last, in its own right: the inaugural Sports Tech Marketplace.
Accordingly, one of the major players in the sports technology space, Zepp Labs, has pioneered multi-sport sensors and projects as a force to be reckoned with going forward.
Just a couple of weeks after last year’s CES, they raised $15 million in the Series B round that included investors from GGV Capital, Cherubic Ventures, Bertelsmann, and Legend Capital–the latter one being involved since their first round of $5 million. This funding has started to be allocated to areas such as research and development for new products, new services and apps, and global brand marketing. In fact, there were several key endeavors in Zepp Labs’ 2014 campaign: getting retailer distribution from Best Buy, implementing a 3D swing analysis feature for tennis players, partnering with scouting services company Perfect Game, and signing major pro endorsers the likes of Mike Trout, Giancarlo Stanton, Jennie Finch, and Keegan Bradley.
These moves have spearheaded Zepp Labs’ positioning in hardware; it’s the software and data-side, though, that places a premium on its–or any wearable sports technology startup, for that matter–promise heading into this 2015 year.
Still, 2014 demonstrated that the wearable sports category is very much in its nascent stage. The companies in this space have convinced, to a certain extent, coaches and players–EON Sports and VR headsets would be another example–converting some to be in favor of data and its impact towards athletic improvement. Several of them have entered the sports-realm with the idea to capture practical data for the constituents involved.
“Most of these efforts lack data that is actionable; and very few of the products that came out this past year offer the ‘guided experience’ needed to actually help a user understand what to do with all the data,” Jason Fass, Zepp Labs’ Chief Executive Officer, tells SportTechie.
By and large, the fitness trackers that inundate the market offer statistics to the user’s smartphone, but rarely distill insights into how these numbers affect the user nor the best way to progress beyond them. Arguably, thus, the most difficult part in this ecosystem for wearable manufacturers is to give competent data and turning them to verifiable coachable knowledge.
Consequently, Fass added: “The barriers to entry are low, with respect to building a device. But the devices aren’t the key. It’s all about building experiences around the data that athletes and coaches truly value long-term.”
For instance, Pittsburgh-based startup, Diamond Kinetics, marks as a competitor in Zepp Labs’ space, which dovetails on the open nature for any startup to emerge with their own respective product. Informing users with the speed in which a baseball is swung isn’t so much the key differentiator or stepping stone that baseball players want; rather, this information may compound a hitter’s lack of ability to hit a pitch. Such a scenario dictates that more advancements in wearable sports technology is needed, both for the company supplying the device and the ones using it. The best products this year will be able to synthesize a group of data, then specifying exercises and suggestions for the player or coach to address, improving their game constantly.
While constructing the hardware can be difficult, creating an optimal customer experience is really undervalued–another phase that Fass believes will represent a transition ahead for 2015. Users want great media modules and interactive experiences that are unique. The desired actionable data transferred into the app must deliver an interplay with graphically compelling videos, images, and juxtaposed audio instruction. It’s almost a foregone conclusion that coaches expect players to visualize their habits, followed by periodicity insofar as assisting muscle memory.
At the same time, though, it should be noted that any differences between consumer sports wearables and its data versus the ones utilized by the pro ranks that need to be addressed, depends.
“Most athletes aspire to be better, regardless of their current level. Professionals have the ability to see data and make adjustments in their body, tactics, and strategy at a level amateurs are not able to replicate. This mainly is because they’re so in-tune with their body and surroundings,” says Fass.
“However, the goals and fundamentals apply across the skill curve. Most athletes don’t want data. They want a plan or recommendation. Coaches, on the other hand, love data. So, the delivery of the data should be changed based on who it’s for, but the fundamentals should apply to all,” Fass continued.
Meanwhile, as it’s been customary for quite some time at CES, Apple doesn’t make major announcements, but looms to leave its own imprint in the fitness wearable space later this year.
The ballyhooed anticipation for the Apple Watch suggests that there are a lot of applications and experiences that can build on top of this platform. Of course, not all athletes wear a smartwatch on their wrist during play, since that placement in relation to the body isn’t ideal for many sports. The Apple Watch, nonetheless, should heighten the overall performance data movement in a way that catapults the entire sports wearable category, too.
Zepp Labs, in turn, is excited for the Apple Watch’s debut–not surprisingly, considering that Fass was once a Senior Product Manager of the MacBook Pro for Apple. They are looking forward to developing experiences from this technology for their athletes. The data extracted from this device will be different, particularly due to the key sports measurements not being anatomically feasible from this position. In golf, a club’s movement wouldn’t be trackable in accurate way from the wrist. As for tennis, these players use their dominant hand to hold the racquet, while watches are typically worn on the non-dominant hand. There’s little incentive for baseball players to adopt an Apple Watch, sans for fitness reasons outside of game environments
Be it bands that are worn or sensors around physical equipment, the real-time information received by players and coaches through wearable technology should remain prevalent from here on out. Fass, moreover, believes that some of the major sports apparel and equipment corporations will be enticed to assess potential partnership opportunities, where these new devices and technologies can be integrated into their own respective products. There’s no doubt that some significant announcements will take place this year that complements an established brand with a startup. Companies will feel the pressure to find the right partnerships to sustain consumer’s interest and engaged with them, especially when they can’t keep up or be as nimble as a startup like Zepp Labs.
Yet, some startups shouldn’t be too quick to completely converge their products and analytics to a larger corporation this year: “White-labeling is a tough road to go down to maintain any long-term, sustainable competitive advantage.”
“We think there’s an opportunity for one brand to own the category of sports technology. And that’s what driving Zepp every day,” states Fass.
Zepp Labs approaches 2015 to provide powerful content experiences based exclusively on the user’s data via a collection of pro athletes, coaches, and organizations, with software and solid UI and UX design, perhaps ultimately, separating the winners and losers in this competitive landscape.