Internet of Things not only enables industry, office buildings and homes, it also transforms our sports experiences. We see examples of it with Bluetooth enabled pedometers and heart rate monitors. In another, potentially even more exciting application, Wilson Sporting Goods announced the Wilson X Connected Basketball this last September. With its embedded smart sensor and smart phone app, the Wilson X will change how basketball players and enthusiasts relate to their most important piece of their equipment: their basketball.

The Wilson X’s smart sensor uses accelerometers and sophisticated analytics to interpret three dimensional accelerations as throws, goals and misses. This clever bit of engineering can even estimate distance. Accompanying the basketball is a smart phone application that communicates with the basketball via Bluetooth to track shots and time. The app also offers experience-enriching practice and game modes to provide a range of interactive experiences for the player. Buzzer-Beater, one of 2 game modes, challenges players to score game-winning shots against high-pressure timer count-downs. An audio sound track adds crowd noises and announcer commentary to provide an “in-game”-like experience to what might be yet another ordinary day of driveway or playground hoop-shooting. Without a doubt, I would have wanted this for Christmas if I were a kid. Maybe I do even as an adult!

The smart-phone app is supported by a cloud-based data management system that integrates play data from every Wilson X session. Designed and deployed by SportIQ, a sports technology company and TempoIQ, an IoT analytics platform and application provider, this IoT analytics solution enables Wilson Sporting Goods to track and analyze which features and use modes players use most. Metrics include number of shots and sessions, game times and preferences for different application use modes. The app can also drill down to profile and compare usage for both power and average users.

From this information, Wilson intends to drive future product enhancements for both the product’s hardware and software. During my interview with Nick Gonzales, the Director of Product Marketing, Basketball, at Wilson, he described a vision in which players could compete remotely on Wilson-hosted on-line leaderboards, adding to their experience. The big idea is to evolve a player’s basketball experience from solitary practice or pick-up games to interaction with a world-wide community.

So, what has been the effect on Wilson’s business? While it’s too soon to analyze financial impact, there has been a halo effect on Wilson’s public relations and communications. For me, the use of technology to build social connections and enriched sports experience for the world-wide community of basketball athletes is the big ah-ha. This is one better than online social media because it directly integrates into the way people interact with their physical world, leveraging not just sight and sound, but also touch and action. How great is that!?