Apple's multi-year deal with MLB takes iPad Pro out to the ballgame
Apple has signed a multi-year deal with Major League Baseball to supply coaches with 12.9-inch iPad Pro units running custom software for displaying player statistics, stat breakdowns, interactive data, game footage and more.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
According to The Wall Street Journal, the MLB's iPad deal was brokered to coincide with a loosening of in-game restrictions on using laptops, tablets and smartphones in dugouts. The MLB's iPad Pros will debut this season, outfitted with special ruggedized cases sporting the organization's logo.
"We're not just replacing binders with tablets, we're actually helping them do things that weren't possible before," said Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller.
When distributed, each iPad Pro will come with a custom iOS app developed by the MLB's Advanced Media division, in partnership with Apple. Called Dugout, the app will be loaded with proprietary team data before each game, ensuring fresh stats and data points pertinent to a given matchup. Future iterations might support real-time data. The software first entered testing during last year's postseason.
Other professional sports organizations, like the NBA, have for years relied on tablets for processing stats, storing plays and performing time-saving other tasks. The NFL, for example, struck a deal to use Microsoft's Surface as a digital playbook, to sometimes ignominious effect.
The report notes Apple's deal does not require teams to make iPad visible during TV broadcasts, a stipulation of the NFL's $400 million deal with Microsoft, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred believes teams will make good use of the new technology. Manfred also said he hopes iPad will help speed up the pace of games, making baseball more attractive to a younger generation drawn to fast action sports.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
According to The Wall Street Journal, the MLB's iPad deal was brokered to coincide with a loosening of in-game restrictions on using laptops, tablets and smartphones in dugouts. The MLB's iPad Pros will debut this season, outfitted with special ruggedized cases sporting the organization's logo.
"We're not just replacing binders with tablets, we're actually helping them do things that weren't possible before," said Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller.
When distributed, each iPad Pro will come with a custom iOS app developed by the MLB's Advanced Media division, in partnership with Apple. Called Dugout, the app will be loaded with proprietary team data before each game, ensuring fresh stats and data points pertinent to a given matchup. Future iterations might support real-time data. The software first entered testing during last year's postseason.
Other professional sports organizations, like the NBA, have for years relied on tablets for processing stats, storing plays and performing time-saving other tasks. The NFL, for example, struck a deal to use Microsoft's Surface as a digital playbook, to sometimes ignominious effect.
The report notes Apple's deal does not require teams to make iPad visible during TV broadcasts, a stipulation of the NFL's $400 million deal with Microsoft, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred believes teams will make good use of the new technology. Manfred also said he hopes iPad will help speed up the pace of games, making baseball more attractive to a younger generation drawn to fast action sports.
Comments
(Obligatory "Baseball is the dullest sport ever invented, it's even worse than cricket" comment)
Interesting points from the original article:
'Tim Teufel, the New York Mets’ third base coach, said that he looks forward to seeing what competitive advantage the MLB Dugout app and iPads can offer. “Managers have plans and positions laid out before the game even starts,” he said. “This won’t change that much. But when a relief pitcher comes in, when a pinch hitter comes up, when the game changes in unexpected ways, that’s when it’ll be really useful.” '
'Apple’s iPad, which has recently struggled with a sales slump, could see a promotional boost from the deal. “One of the biggest reasons Beats headphones are so popular is that athletes wear them,” Mr. Powell noted.'
'Apple and MLB declined to disclose details of the deal'
It's probably in the middle. Microsoft and Samsung were probably approached. The price of admission may have been the iPad Pros gratis... (you're talking maybe 3-4 a team, heck, 8 loaded systems/team would be 256 units, and $300,000. Or the cost of one 30 second on TV at prime time). But to put a half dozen Apple Logo in every stadium, with the hours of HD camera time on dugouts, and getting the opportunity to work with baseball with the pro platform, and getting the tool pushed out to 1000's of college, Minor league, and HS (and little league) teams will be the halo... And finally, if the data that the in dugout application is somehow exposed to the MLB.com iPad app (and TVos App), it may make the game more available to the semi-casual in home (on bus/subway) viewer.
I think the exclusivity is more valuable... The MasterCard 'Priceless' campaign started with Baseball. Now Can you see Apple being 'The Official iPad supplier of MLB' giving you a underline to a tagline to an Apple Commercial... I can.
I'm waiting for something to replace this (and it may be soon;-O)
The key question is, will the commentators say 'using their Surface' or...?????
I suppose it will make the game a bit more interesting. I'm saying that as someone who went to a game at Fenway Park and fell asleep. I've never fallen asleep at a Cricket Test Match.
edit: Someone beat me to it.
I think the Apple logo on the case would have been a great idea. Maybe not a flashy one but a black Apple logo on black case would have been nice.
Tablet use use in the dugout has only been approved starting in the 2016 season. You need to remember that baseball team is a sport steeped in tradition that has resisted technology on the field because of that. Wrigley Field didn't install lights until 1988!
The iPad Pro app was actually co-developed by Apple with a division of MLB called MLB Dugout. In 2014 MLB decided to replace the old dugout phones (old fashioned phones that go from the dugout to the bullpen) with Samsung Galaxy 3's with service provided by TMobile. They kept the old phones in place for backup. The cellular implementation was so unpopular that the managers didn't use them and eventually were removed. If they were iPhones would it have been different? Who knows. It is known that most of the managers, coaches and players use Apple iPhones and iPads.
Looking at a lot of the posts here it seems that a lot of you aren't big baseball fans. It's one of the last major league sports that a family can enjoy together at a live game and is affordable. Kids still have baseball heroes and many still collect baseball cards. I know. I work at Target Field in Minneapolis, home of the Minnesota Twins, during the season and at a Twins Pro Shop during the off season. When a kid gets their first baseball jersey the smile on their face is an amazing thing. A player autograph is like gold.
I have no doubt that there are kids interested, and that many do like it, and follow it as you describe. But there is a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar. Take a look and see what is at most school yards these days. It isn't baseball diamonds - it' soccer fields. And the soccer team here in Seattle? Its the Seattle Xboxes. I always find that ironic.
Aaron Rodgers slamming a Surface to the ground in frustration: priceless.
https://v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/AF300981711275256927710015488_3f64a5a6fcc.1.5.2790493710740939001.mp4?versionId=fowHsWbjlxdZH3CurDYnG4SueJt4mo22
Think of it as costing about the same as taking your fam to a 3D IMAX movie.
Except for maybe the parking.