“Football (Americans call it ‘soccer’) madness is breaking out across the USA for the FIFA World Cup this year, but there’s a little known Mac story behind the games, one that may have implications on Apple’s Next Big Thing, the rumored iWatch,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld.
“Sportstec’s SportsCode video performance analysis solution was deployed by 18 of the 32 teams competing in the World Cup this year, and six teams still in the game: Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Belgium and France. SportsCode is a Mac-only video analysis system (with a variety of supporting tools) that, among other things, lets coaches and players review match events in real-time. It provides granular in-depth analyses that teams rely on. Sportstec also helps assess the performance of opponents, identifying strengths and focusing on their weaknesses,” Evans writes. “Why is Sportstec’s system Mac only? CEO Philip Jackson told me in 2006: ‘Macs handle video better and faster than any other platform. The system is so video-based that it needs a robust platform — the referee won’t stop the game because the computer’s crashed.'”
“What this means is that if you’ve been watching the FOOTBALL you may sometimes glimpse trainers sitting by the pitch holding a Mac. They weren’t taking a little in-match me-time to glance at phony iPhone 6 images — they’re studying the game using SportsCode,” Evans writes. “It’s not just used in football, of course: the Mac-only solution is widely use across basketball — 28 of the top 30 NBA teams — field hockey and beyond. It even has implications in health and medicine… Technology doesn’t stand still, of course, and in future we may yet see a perfect match between Apple’s sensor-laden, health-focused iWatch and Sportstec’s performance analysis system.”
Read more in the full article here.