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Fancru Takes up the Sports Fan Chat Challenge

June 12, 2012 by

Fans like to talk with fans, at least ones that share similar allegiances, and Fancru is seeking to exploit that with its sports app that will enable groups of like minded fans to chat as well as allowing you to reach out to your friends.

If this sounds a bit familiar it is. There are several other apps that are seeking to establish themselves as platform for fan interaction and FanCru realizes that it has to step up to the plate big time to enable it to be recognized above the noise in this space.

The app, currently only available for the iPhone (it will work on an iPad but is not optimized) is the brainchild of John Wagner, Fancru’s co-founder and president and Bill Diamond, co-founder and CEO. Wagner is a self proclaimed sports nut who constantly watches games and saw this as an opportunity for fans to share experiences with others both attending the sporting events and those following elsewhere.

The app has several different distinct functions, and in some ways it reminds you of a host of other apps such as Foursquare, since you can log in your location, ESPN, since it gives you scores, and rival apps such as Recapp which provide news articles about selected teams.

Similarities aside it has a game feed that connects you to other fans following an event. Then on top of that there is the Cheer & Vent function that allows you to vent etc as well as post images from where ever you are.

You establish an account and then select the sports teams and leagues that you want to follow-NFL, NCAA Football, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and Brazilian Soccer. Add the teams you want and then you can connect to them via Facebook, Twitter, searching your address book, SMS and the old fashion way by including their names manually. You can check to see which teams have the most fans and earn points for prizes by doing various actions.

The company’s first version of the app, for all practical purposes a beta release, provided it with plenty of user feedback that it used to incorporate in its current offering. But it is not just listening to what fans think of the product that is important to the company. Available now for the iPhone the company is working on an Android release and then will optimize its iPhone app to efficiently run on iPads.

Fancru is taking an interesting approach in that it is seeking to engage teams and leagues into using its technology as possibly a front end to an app that the teams might be developing by opening up its SDK and APIs up to the market freely available.

It is hard to predict how that will work out for the larger, more established leagues such as the NFL and MLB. Right now MLB has AtBat as its official app, which it own. However MLB has been very proactive in trying to engage fans via a series of apps and contests and having like minded fans chat during games would seem to fall into the direction it is taking. There is also an effort to allow teams to add a local flavor to AtBat so that while the league might not adopt the technology local teams might have that option.

In addition Fancru has been accruing analytics about what its users are doing and so it would enable teams to better meet fans wants and needs, Wager points out. He sees the app as a valuable tool to teams that want to bring fans out to the events in a day when many have huge high definition televisions and are content with watching at home.

By enabling a team to have contests that could be centered on a game, a player or a section of seats it can bring fans into more active participation and with that more active attendance.

A challenge to an app of this sort will be breaking through the noise. The Apple App store has almost a million apps currently. There are slightly older rival apps that either point to a single sport such as GolfGamebook or are also more broadly based such as GrabFan, PlayUp and Kwarter.

Being a relatively new category helps since there really is not established leader and they are all facing the same uphill battle. In addition stadiums and leagues are only ow upgrading their wireless capabilities to enable in-game fan interaction. I suspect that within a year or two a huge number of fans will be using a chat technology that connects them to others in and out of the stadium.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, Fancru, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Major League Baseball, MLS, NBA, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NFL, PlayUp, Startup Tagged With: ,

USGA Considering Allowing Cell Phones on Course — But Not This Week

June 11, 2012 by

It looks like the USGA was ready for questions about its cell phone policy, as executives from the country’s governing body of golf were all on message Monday saying generally positive things about considering allowing cell phone use during tournament days in the future — while keeping its ban in place for this year’s U.S. Open in San Francisco.

“We’re comfortable with the current policy [of banning cell phones during competition days] but also looking about what to do for the future,” said Joe Goode, managing director of communications for the USGA, in a quick press-room interview Monday.

The question of fans using cell phones on courses is a hot topic given the recent incident at the Memorial tourney in Ohio, where star player Phil Mickelson withdrew reportedly in part because of too many fans snapping cell-phone pictures while he was trying to golf. This year the PGA has allowed fans to have cell phones at all events for the first time. However, major tourney organizers like the Masters and the USGA (which conducts the U.S. Open) set their own rules, and for the Open this week fans won’t even be allowed to bring cell phones to the course once competition starts on Thursday. On practice days like Monday fans can bring as big a camera as they want, apparently. And nobody seemed to care that I was snapping some photos with a cell phone, though maybe it’s because I had a media badge around my neck.

Media and other VIP folks at the Open may bring cell phones in for use in approved areas like the press tent, but today we had to pass through metal detectors and get a special sticker for our cell phones to show they were approved devices, which seems a bit extreme. But it seems like Goode and other USGA types (including top boss Mike Davis, who told ESPN’s Bob Harig about the same thing) are recognizing that cellular phones have already become as regular a pocket or purse companion as a wallet or car keys, and that all-out bans seem a bit stone age, especially to folks who rely on them for important communications to family members, to work or just for posts to Twitter.

What Goode seemed to be saying — and I am paraphrasing here — is that the USGA gets it, they’re not going to ban phones forever, and they believe that there probably is a way to do things that works for fans as well as sensitive players.

They’re just not ready to say exactly what it is, though, so after Wednesday it’ll be time for fans this year to leave their cell phones at home.

But hey, you can always use the phones at tents like this one to call people — but who uses a phone to make calls anymore? What they really need — and I think some PGA stops like Pebble Beach have already tried things like this — is special areas around the course with Wi-Fi access, where fans can get their online Jones without having to bug Phil or Bubba. Now if the Open here in San Francisco had a Twitter tent, that would be forward thinking and hometown cool. Maybe some Twitter folks can jump on BART and do some kind of foo-camp setup (with appropriate sponsoring dollars) before Thursday?

(All images credit Paul Kapustka, Mobile Sports Report; courtesy of The Olympic Club and the USGA.)

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, AT&T, BlackBerry, Facebook, Golf, iPad, iPhone, PGA, The Masters, Twitter, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , ,

U.S. Open Gets Twitter-Crazy During Day 1

June 11, 2012 by

Even though Mobile Sports Report is covering the U.S. Open live and in person, we almost didn’t need to be at the Olympic Club to get a feeling for what was going on, thanks to the multitude of tweets resonating Monday around golf’s biggest event.

With no cell-phone ban yet in place (that doesn’t happen until competition starts on Thursday) there were plenty of certified folks with mobile cellular devices, transmitting 140-character messages as well as pictures and videos from the fairways, greens, practice facilities and sponsor tents hovering on the southwest edge of San Francisco, one hill removed from the Pacific Ocean.

But why just talk about the tweets? Thanks to technology we can share some of our favorites. Why not start with the tour’s hottest player, last weekend’s champ Dustin Johnson, who tweets pretty darn regularly at @DJohnsonPGA. DJ today hit us with a bunch of pictures of his practice day at Olympic, which included a visit with the Most Interesting Man in Golf:

Golf writer extraordinare Geoff Shackelford was a twittering man possessed Monday, shooting little bits of video as well as cool snaps — like this one of USGA executive director Mike Davis greeting 1955 Open winner and Hogan-killer Jack Fleck.

Maybe the best place to get a wide fix of overall U.S. Open tweets was the Open’s own live updates page (which just shows up as “Twitter” on the USGA mobile app). That’s where we found out that Luke Donald, aka World No. 1 is cool enough to RT an answer to a fan request for a photo:

(Don’t everyone tweet @ Luke at once now.)

ESPN talent Scott Van Pelt also arrived on scene, and gave us all a view of his “office” for the week:

And the gear sponsors were all out tweeting heavily as well. From our friends at Nike Golf, a faraway picture of the Man, El Tigre himself:

With two more practice days we expect more tweets to be flying the innerwebs way from Olympic, even with its challenged cellular reception. Our favorite of the day comes from another recently smokin’ player and a personal MSR favorite (we so wanted him to win the PGA last year), Jason Dufner. Apparently the Duf is getting some good travel guides to the more lively areas of town. However it appears he may not be ready for the clothing-challenged scenery:

C’mon, Duf, it’s called the Castro — and it was hot out today! Just wait, they will probably be in your gallery tomorrow!

Filed Under: Apps, ESPN, Golf, iPhone, PGA, Social Media, Tiger Woods, Twitter, US Open Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Apple Details New iOS 6: Releases Mountain Lion and New Notebooks

June 11, 2012 by

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference began this week in San Francisco, and a good example of the excitement it generates among the faithful is the fact that the 5,000 tickets that went on sale for $1,599 sold out in less than two hours, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reports are that some are now being scalped in front of the Moscone Center.

The joy of this event to me is that we get to see how the rumors about the event match up with the actual announcements. New operating systems, iPads, iPhones, new TV and more have all been promised by a variety of outlets, now we get to see what is true.

The company introduced two different OS at the show starting with the next generation iOS, iOS 6.0 with 200 new features including new map app, shared photo streams and very tight Facebook integration. Expect this in the late fall.

Also the latest Mac operating system, code-named Mountain Lion, which will be available next month for $19.99. Interesting notes from the keynote include Apple working with some big name auto manufacturers to incorporate Siri into their entertainment systems. Expect to see results from this in a year or so and brands include BMW, GM and Jaguar. Siri will also now be able to launch apps.

Lots of upgraded or new hardware on the PC side including an 11-inch MacBook Air with a 1.7 GHz processor starting at $1,099; a 13-inch MacBook Air with a 1.8 GHz processor starting at $1199, and 256GB of flash storage starting at $1,499.

Also some new MacBook Pro models including a 13-inch with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor starting at $1,499, a 15-inch MacBook Pro with either a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor starting at $1,799; or with a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor starting at $2,199. The 15-inch displays will feature high resolution Retina technology.

Some stats from the show
iMessage has 140 million users
Apple users send 1 billion messages daily
650,000 Apps of which 225,000 for iPad
Asia Pacific soon to be largest revenue geography for company

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Facebook, Google, Intel, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

New Windows 8 Tablets from Acer and Asus Just the Start

June 11, 2012 by

Windows 8 got a boost at the Computex trade show last week in Taipei when it was talked up by a number of hardware developers ranging from tablet developers to microprocessor purveyors, creating some momentum prior to the release of the operating system.

As we noted last week Intel took the bull by the horns and talked about how 20 of its OEMs have tablets in development using its Atom Z2760 processor family as the company seeks to establish itself as a player in the tablet market.

But some of the Windows hardware developers were a good deal more specific about what they had in development, specifically Acer and Asus, both of which have been working hard in the Android spac to establish themselves as tablet developers and now look to Microsoft for a boost.

Acer is developing a pair of tablets for the market, and will use the letter “W” to indicate that the products are for Windows. The two are the Iconia Tab W510 and the Iconia Tab W700. The 10.1-inch W510 is a hybrid design that can be used as a touch screen and docked with a keyboard.

The Iconia Tab W700 has an 11.6-inch display with 1920 x 1080 pixels and will also include a docking station like the W510. It has the ability to display at a 70 degree angle, much greater than is commonly found in tablets. Both will use Intel processors, although the exact one was not revealed. The W510 is expected top be the workhorse while the W700 is the high end offring in the family.

Asustek has also come to the table last week with the Asus Tablet 600, but it will not be sporting Intel, using an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. The 10-inch tablet will be using a version of Windows called Windows RT. The basic specs are that it will have 2GB of RAM, a 32GB storage capacity and Office 15 software.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Asus, Dell, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Judge Kills Patent Suit- Wave of the Future?

June 11, 2012 by

One of the many patent lawsuits from around the globe has been canceled by the presiding judge, although this may not end the case. In an Apple/Google lawsuit Judge Richard Posner has entered a tentative order dismissing the case because he believes that neither party can establish relief.

According to Foss Patents, which had previously speculated that this might occur, this is more likely a bigger setback to Google, but that it will take future court cases to see if that is true. One of the more interesting aspects of this ruling is the esteem with which Judge Posner is held in legal circles and his apparent disgust with the two companies and the patent system. I wonder if this is a trend that will continue going forward as judges try to clear up the huge logjam of patent cases?

Android not ready for quad core?
It appears Intel is complaining about the poor performance of the Android operating system when used on devices that feature quad core processors, according to the Android Guys. It seems that the guys at Intel are not so much complaining about the OS but rather the chips that it runs on in the smartphones.

It should be noted of course that virtually all of those chips are made by rivals, and that Intel is just now selling its processors t developers that create smartphones. In addition Intel does not currently offer a quad core in this space.

Will Windows Phone win out?
A recent study by market research firm IDC predicts the demise of the Android phone and the ascendency of the Windows Phone by 2016. The report predicts that Android phones will still be the dominate operating system over tge next 5 years but that its market share will peak this year.

Apple’s iOS operating system is expected to continue to grow, albeit at a slower rate than in the past. The winner over the next five years will be Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, which it claims will gain a 16% market share over the next few years.

Not everybody is on board with this bold prediction however, and a number of pieces have been published questioning the predictions. One that took the time to examine past IDC predictions with the subsequent results was run in The Street.

RIM kills one model of BlackBerry PlayBook
Research in Motion has killed its 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook tablet as the mobile device developer continues to find footing in the new market for connected devices. The company said that while it remains committed to the market overall it would discontinue the 16GB version but would continue to ship the 32GB and 64GB versions. A new generation of tablets is expected from RIM later this year.

Adding insult to injury in Oracle/Google case
A judge has ordered Oracle to pay Google’s legal fees after the outcome of Oracle’s patent and copyright suit against the search giant did not go its way. Apparently Judge William Alsup had told Oracle that if it brought the case to court (it had failed twice before) that it would have to pay Google’s expenses, which apparently ran to $300,000.

Facebook’s app center opens
Facebook has officially opened its App Center and already has 600 apps available for Facebook users. The center is operating system agnostic and so there are apps for Android, iOS and others available. The purpose of the center is to encourage app developers to create programs that use Facebook as its front end, helping it in the mobile space.

Motorola, others violate RF patent?
EETimes is reporting that the International Trade Commission is investigating the use of select RF chips by Motorola Mobility, HTC Corp. and RF Micro Devices. The complaint was brought by Peregrine Semiconductor that claims that chips used by the companies violated its patents.

Mobile Apps in New York this month
If you happen to be in New York City and are interested in mobile technology, specifically mobile apps, then the Mobile App Showdown might be right up your alley. The two day showcase starts the 25th but if you want to vote online for the best app you can go online on June 15th and cast your vote. It should be interesting t see what direction the voting takes.

LinkedIn stops collecting calendar data
It appears that one of the fallouts from LinkedIn’s security breach that led to the loss of 6.5 million passwords was the revelation that the professional networking site had been surreptitiously collecting data from the private calendars of its members, at least iPad and iPhone users. The company has now said that it will discontinue that practice.

Asus PadFone hits the States
It looks like the Asus PadFone, a mobile device that combines a smartphone with a tablet to make a platform that can be used as a single product or separated into two distinct devices has finally made it to the US.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, Facebook, FTC, Google, Research in Morion, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,
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