Its Only The Beginning - Mobility Will Change Fitness And Health Forever

I've been predicting a tipping point for some time and I call it the Integerus: the point when more revenues and consumer interactions associated with health and fitness services are delivered via the cloud and technologies  as opposed to bricks and mortar based organizations. Don't think its happening ? Think again.....

Internet retail sales will reach nearly 300 billion in the US by 2015. Increasingly purchases of goods and services will move to mobile platforms. Customers will become more accustomed to getting the things they need, including services, whenever and wherever they want them. Over 500 million health and fitness apps are going to be used globally by 2015. Now comes Jawbone's new UP device, another in a series of innovations that are leading to AT&T and Best Buy being as important a competitor in the health and fitness space as any existing health club provider. Don't think the industry convergence trend is one of the four key trends to watch until 2016 ? I do....(have you seen AT&T's upcoming clothing line that monitors your health ?)

Watch the video below on Jawbone's UP and tell me Bryan O'Rourke, how do you think these new technologies are going to impact the fitness and health club industry ? I think they are going to enable us to impact more people in better ways and provide new business models that bridge the physical and digital worlds.

About the author Bryan O’Rourke:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness and health club business service companies. He is also a partner in The Health Club For Women and Chairman of the Medical Fitness Association’s Education Committee. To learn more contact Bryan here today .

By 2015 Mobile Devices Will Create 6.3 Exabyte's Of Data - What Does It Mean ?

In 1969 the first Internet message was sent. It was 2 characters and forced the system to shut down. With over 2 billion Internet users today the amount of data on the Internet has far surpassed 1969. By 2015, mobile devices alone will account for 6.3 Exabytes of data; 26 times more than today. An exabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one quintillion bytes. In other words its huge - watch the Oracle video below.

So what does this mean ? Wal Mart's systems track 1 million customer transactions an hour. This is a strategic advantage for the retailer, who uses data analysis to predict ordering, consumer patterns and to perform other important business functions. Like Wal Mart, analyzing data will be a critical aspect of creating new ways for the health club industry and the fitness industry in general to meet the opportunity of delivering primary prevention. Its why it is so important for fitness equipment manufacturers to agree to common data standards. Its why health clubs need to move their information systems to the cloud. Data and technology are very important to the future of the health club and fitness industry.

So tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, what do you think about technology, data and systems as it relates to the fitness industry or the health club industry ? Do you think the industry is aware enough about how this will be an important aspect for the future ? Watch this video on data from Oracle.

To The Fitness Industry - Technology Is What You Make It

I'm lucky. I've have 3 very unique wonderful children who've taught me great lessons.

My friend Jim McPartland commented during our recent interview on his "Unopened Gifts" show something to the effect of, "you take the exam before getting the text book." He was referring to life in general and its also true of being a parent. You are not always sure of what to do but you do your best and if you're lucky and keep an optimistic open mind to the future, things might turn out ok.

Working in an industry like fitness and wellness, a young industry with a lot of promise and a long way to go to reach it, I think about how we get there. That is where my kids come to mind along with Jim's quote and a recent commerical.

The future for health clubs, and fitness and wellness in general will entail a lot of change and technology will be a big part of it. It has for every industry. While we can't know the outcome for sure, I think its important we as an industry become more open to what technology represents, for both its great potential and sometimes problematic consequences. We must embrace change to reach our promise. This is even more important because of the relatively young stage the fitness industry is in.

In light of this I wanted to share Google's most recent Chrome commercial about a father and his daughter (see below) and technology. Tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, what do you think about technology in light of this commercial and in light of your life ? Is Technology, like your life, what you make it ? Should the fitness industry be more open to the future and technology that will be a big part of its development ? I think so.

Being Ahead Of Your Time - Apple's Newton & iPad

The term "PDA" (personal digital assistant) was coined around Apple's Newton. Launched in 1993 at a price of $699, the Newton project was thought by many to be an abject failure (Jobs cancelled it shortly after terminating John Sculley) - but was it ? Reflecting on its history, the device was ahead of its time and technology. Consider that in September 2009, Michael Tchao, one of the Newton's marketing product champions, returned to Apple to join the iPad team and two ex-Apple Newton developers founded Pixo, the company that created the operating system for the original iPod. in fact, the nexus for iPad was Newton. (Kim Arnold shares this view here).

When writing or speaking about the future and the rapid pace of technological change that is and will increasingly impact everyone (particularly in the fitness and wellness arena) ; its often good to reflect on past "failures", seeing where they ultimately end up. The tablet market is now the 4th largest consumer electronics category in the world at nearly $9 billion annually.What does that say about Newton ?

So what do you think ? Please let me, Bryan O'Rourke, here from you. Was Newton a failure ? Watch the iPad and Newton commercials below. I think there are some similarities don't you ?

Using Technology To Improve Membership Sales & Retention

As promised here is my IHRSA 2011 presentation on Using Technology To Improve Membership Sales & Retention. What a great crowd and thank you for attending if you did. Special thanks to Nigel Champion fouder of the Australian Fintess Network for introducing me and of course to my colleagues @RoberjDyer, @Kellihatton, and Cary Wing for attending. As promised, I will be posting follow ups from questions I received. Remember, if you donate to the American Red Cross to benefit the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami victims, I will donate an hour of my personal time consulting with you on your specific needs. So, what did you think of the presentation ? Contact me Bryan O'Rourke, and share your views on technology, consumer trends and key challenges for improving membership sales and retention in health clubs.

Using Technology To Improve Membership Sales & Retention

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