Apple's Best Days Are Over - What Does It Mean for Fitness ?

David Olive's recent article titled Why Apple and Google May Have Their Best Days Behind Them is a thoughtful examination of the trends occuring in tehcnology today. There is a lot of rapid change going on. Its implications are broad and in fact relevant to the fitness industry; a traditional late comer to technology adoption. Why ? It has to do with change, adoption and open systems. Here are a few excerpts from David's article:

They dominated their industries until they didn’t. General Motors, Massey-Ferguson, IBM, Sears, Roebuck – in their heyday, it was unimaginable that they could be dislodged as kings of their castles by rival firms and new technology and business methods.

Apple is increasingly a smartphone company, and that sector is coming under intense attack from competitors. The maker of iPods, iPads and Mac computers now looks to iPhones for 34 per cent of total sales, or $5.3 billion (U.S.) in Apple’s most recent quarter.

Competing smartphones using Google Inc.’s Android operating system have claimed 27 per cent of the U.S. market, to the iPhone’s 23 per cent. And the Android rivals are able to play most videos and games on the Web, a capability lacking in the iPhone.

Google’s core business, Internet search, is slowing. The search business has been growing at a clip of 30 per cent to 40 per cent a year. But projections have it slowing to growth in the range of 15 per cent to 17 per cent.

Google still depends on search for 91 per cent of its $24 billion (U.S.) in sales, and 91 per cent of its profits. That’s troubling given the trend in which surfers are bypassing Google and Microsoft Corp. rival Bing and instead using the likes of Facebook and Twitter to canvass friends for information, and responding to alerts from shopping services like Groupon.

Certainly Google has tried to bolster its core franchise, with acquisitions of YouTube, ad network DoubleClick and mobile ad platform AdMob. Its Android smartphone software has become an iPhone killer for upward of a dozen Apple rivals.

Yet those businesses haven’t made a dent in Google’s reliance on old-fashioned search. With its core business facing erosion, it’s no wonder Google’s share price has dropped 21 per cent this year, underperforming a 1 per cent gain in the Nasdaq.

More consumer centric tecnhologies will emerge in the fitness industry. However, that they might rely on Apple as a central component is a question. That they will rely on Apple's mobile technology alone would really be unwise. Unfortunately many vendors seeking to deliver innovation will rely on tApple's mobile technology and that will be a mistake in my view.

Watch this video on the emergence of Android in the mobile market to illustrate my point. If you see vendors in fitness relying largely on Apple's solutions - that is a bad sign for them. Android will become the clear victor in the next two years.

Your IT Department's Fear of the Cloud

WARNING - STRONG LANGUAGE IN THE VIDEO BELOW.

Information technology is going through a tremendous shift in organizations. I'm not just talking about the technology per se; I am referring to a more challenging issue - that of the traditional role of the "IT" and its leadership That role in many organizations needs to change and how.

Used to be that the application of technologies in organizations required high levels of understanding around the technical aspects of it all. Think of the days when hobbyists would construct their own personal computers, ala Apple, in a garage. Like the Wright Brothers, IT required at its core inventors with detailed oriented personalities who had to focus on great minutia to get something to do what needed to be done. The benefits of automating manual tasks utilizing RPG or other code was low hanging fruit and a different paradigm than today. To realize the benefits of technology today in organizations requires a deeper understanding of its deployment. There exists a wide range of methods to achieve results more easily and more inexpensively - thanks to the Cloud. Hence this post and video.

I can tell you that the TRUE adoption of the Cloud is not what many in IT claim or represent it to be,. Cloud adoption is being stifled by IT leadership in many instances mostly out of fear. Fear of losing jobs; fear of being irrelevant; fear of the unknown. Business leaders need to GET THEIR HANDS around what the Cloud really is and start evaluating their options because in most cases the options are much more worthy of pursuit then they might know or are being told.  My partner Clint Lee brought the video below to my atention. It is an actual discussion in an organization between an internal customer and an IT leader. It is not an exaggeration.Watch it (pardon the expletives) and believe me when I tell you - YOU NEED TO EVALUATE THE REAL CLOUD. Feel free to contact me if you need any assistance.

Why Social Media Works for B2B

I work with many professionals and they often ask me - what is the strategic advantage for me to adopt social media ? Many, but not all, see social media as a waste of time - STILL ! Social Media is Business Media. Christina "CK" Kerlev's presentation below outlines the 10 Key Benefits that social media provides for B2B development. Read it and the next time you are confronting senior leadership questioning the benefits for social media for business development -

just pull this out and show them.

B2B Social Media Marketing: Building the B2B Business Case for Social Media

View more presentations from Christina "CK" Kerley.

IDEA Fitness Connect - The "Freemium" Model

So who said you couldn't base a business on "FREE" ? I pose that question to people all of the time and it is hard for many to get their head around it. The Economics of Free exist in Google and other business models and I've written about the Economics of Free before (watch). Now in fitness and wellness comes IDEA's Fitness Connect. During the past several months I've had the benefit of talking to IDEA's Peter Davis and his technologist and COO Mike Bannan and learning more about their interesting strategy. Well its been unveiled at the recent IDEA World Conference. If you're a fitness facility owner or professional you need to get your hands on this tool and use it now. After all - ITS FREE !

What do you think about Fitness Connect? Contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, and share your thoughts about this new fitness platform.

Apple's Forray Into Fitness

If Apple's recent patent application tells you anything, its that the giant technology firm is working on further entry into the fitness space. That's something the fitness industry better pay close attention to. As the patent illustration shows on the left, the application includes an extensive interface running on the iPhone. The black and white images show the iPhone interface controlling and monitoring all details, from starting a treadmill to managing the number of curls you perform as part of a workout.

While details are still vague, compatible gym equipment would use a similar 30-pin connector that Apple sell to display video from your iPhone to your TV, and contain a new 'authentication' chip that Apple would provide to licensed third-party developers.

Apple is about to take this concept to the nextlevel by announcing partnerships with various fitness equipmentproducers including TechnoGym and LifeFitness.

In fact another article outlines a patent request by Nike for sensors that will monitor factors including EKG, heart rate, body temperature and hydration, all integrated into future iPhone compatible products.

While there's been no official announcement from Apple on gym compatibility an announcement should be out soon, with an app available via the App Store this summer.