Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball jumps on Apple’s Passbook Ticket Technology

September 20, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Major League Baseball has long been a fan of Apple and its technologies, rolling out its very popular sports apps on the iOS platform first and so it is no surprise that it has quickly adopted Passbook, the mobile ticket option available as part of its iOS 6 operating system.

With the operating system just being released this week MLB already has four clubs set up to support the technology, the San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals, all of which will offer the option at their home games for the remainder of the season.

Passbook is a technology that enables a ticket to be transmitted, stored and displayed on an iPhone. Apple is seeking to have it adopted as an accepted technology at a wide range of establishments that use tickets including movie theaters, boarding passes as well as used for coupons and loyalty cards, to just name a few. A nice feature is that the ticket can appear on the lock screen so that users don’t slow down a line activating and logging into their phone.

For baseball fans they have multiple avenues to purchase the digital tickets including via MLB.com or the official Club websites, including the mobile web, or through the MLB.com At Bat or At The Ballpark mobile apps. MLBAM also will automatically display the digital ticket from Passbook on the device’s lock screen as a day-of-game reminder.

The tickets will be like a normal ticket and will show the information that you would expect including game date, opponent, time, section, row and seat. StubHub, the official secondary reselling site for MLB will also adopt the technology.

Filed Under: Apple, Baseball, iOS, iOS 6, iPad, iPhone, Major League Baseball, Passbook, San Francisco Giants Tagged With: Apple, iOS 6, iPhone, MLB

The World Baseball Classic starts this Week

September 19, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

While Major League Baseball has not yet reached the wild card round of play, the World Baseball Classic is preparing for its first round of qualifiers with games being played in Jupiter Florida and Regensburg, Germany.

For teams that are going to

rely on filling out their rosters with current MLB players, well you are just going to have to wait apparently, something that could harm the chances of some of the teams involved.

The first qualifier, the one held in Jupiter, will feature teams from France, Israel, South Africa and Spain while the second one in Regensburg will have the teams from Canada, Czech Republic, Germany and Great Britain.

The next two sets of qualifiers are slated for play in November. One will take place in Panama City, Panama and will feature Brazil, Columbia, Nicaragua and Panama while the other will take place in Taipei, Taiwan and will include Taipei, New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand.

The Jupiter qualifiers run from Sept. 19-23 while the Regensburg qualifiers run from Sept. 20-24. The Panama City qualifiers run from Nov. 15-19 while the Taipei City qualifier runs from Nov. 15-18. All of the game will be broadcast for free online.

In addition, the final game of each pool will be aired in the United States and Puerto Rico on MLB Network. MLB Network will air the final qualifier game from Jupiter on tape delay at 8 p.m. ET this Sunday, September 23rd and the final game of the Regensburg qualifier live on Monday, September 24th at 1 p.m. ET

The winner of each qualifier is then entered into the 2013 World Baseball Classic tournament that will begin next year in March. The qualifier rounds, which include the four teams that did not win any games in the 2009 WBC, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Panama and South Africa, are a six-game modified double-elimination format.

The winners of these rounds join the 12 nations that received automatic invites based on their last WBC performance. The countries are – Australia, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, United States and Venezuela.

Filed Under: Baseball, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, World Baseball Classic Tagged With: World Baseball Classic

Mobile Sports Report Grab Bag: New Tablets from ZTE & Huawei and MNF Flop

September 14, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Toys 'R' Us Tabeo

Tired of losing your pricey iPad to your kids and then they yell when you try and take it back? Well Toys “R” Us has stepped in with a product that just might save the day with its Tabeo offering. A 7-inch tablet that runs the Android operating system will be available in stores Oct. 21, but will start shipping Oct. 1.

The $149.99 device will feature 4GB of storage that is expandable to 32GB, but the big plus for parents is that it will come with more than 50 books, games and educational apps preloaded including such popular ones as Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. The Tabeo is now available for preorder.

Chinese vendors ZTE & Huawei catching tablet fever?
DigiTimes is reporting that both Huawei Technologies and ZTE have both shown a good deal of interest in entering the tablet space. The move is seen as an effort to expand their respective footprints globally as well as take advantage of the huge Chinese market.

First Monday Night Football game of season a flop with fans
The first MNF games have come and gone, and thank goodness if you were forced to watch them. Apparently not that many did as Sports Media Watch reports that the opening game, a Ravens blowout of the Bengals only managed an 8.1 rating.

Monday Night Football

The season opener, shown on ESPN, was down 21% from last year when the Patriots and Dolphins played and down 23% from the Jets vs. Ravens in 2010. It was the lowest rated MNF broadcast by ESPN since it took over broadcast duties of the iconic show in 2007.

However just a few days later the NFL Network, with a much better matchup with the Packers vs. Bears, received the highest rating in its short history. However its numbers, at 6.3, are hurt because it still is not carried anywhere near as much by cable operators as ESPN.

Analysts predict 58 million iPhone sales in 2012
The iPhone orders only start today after the introduction earlier this week with the first phones expected to ship next week but analysts are predicting a tsunami of sales for Apple’s iPhone 5 smartphone in 2012.

According to a survey done by Bloomberg and reported in Mashable the consensus from analysts is 58 million sold this year and FBR Capital Market analyst Craig Berger is predicting 250 million over the life of the device.

Is Samsung’s LTE threat an issue still?
Samsung mentioned that if Apple included LTE in its iPhone 5 there was a high likelihood of Samsung suing Apple. Samsung owns a huge number of patents in this area and has a healthy business in the LTE area that is spate from the smartphone business.

Now so far Samsung has not acted but it might just be that the company is looking at the technology that is used in Apple’s LTE offering to make sure that it has it right. We could always hope that maybe the two are actually talking and can settle things out of court.

Samsung & MLB partner on contest
Speaking of Samsung the company has entered into a contest with Major League Baseball called Photo Hunt. It is a pretty basic game, one I think even I would have a decent chance at. Every week MLB, at @MLB, will tweet out a Samsung Photo Hunt item using the hash tag #SamsungMLB.

All a user has to do is take a picture of the item and share it with @MLB. Winners will get a Samsung S III phone and two free tickets to a game of their favorite team.

Kindle opens to lukewarm reviews
I was impressed by what I saw during the Kindle HD press conference last week, but reviewers with hands-on experience with the device have been less than complimentary. Some seems to be valid complaints, such as the speed apps load and a few issues with software.

Some of the complaints appear to be, well it is not an iPad, and that really is Amazon’s fault for proclaiming it the best tablet in the market. I still like it, but it is obviously what Amazon said it was at its introduction: a device that opens up other Amazon services to customers. It seems to me to make a product like that (in hindsight) that there will be features that are not included that a general purpose tablet user might want.

USA Today to look like iPad?
I have not been down to the local newsstand but it appears that USA Today will be sporting a new look starting this morning. The paper, which in many ways revolutionized the way papers look and how much space they devote to a story, is now taking on a sleeker appearance.

The paper took a lesson from the Web and how many sites present information. It will also feature input from social media users, including comments from Twitter and Facebook. Its web page will function more like an iPad, according to a piece in the New York Times.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, ABC, Amazon, Android, Apple, ESPN, Facebook, Gannett, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Major League Baseball, Mashable, Monday Night Football, NFL, NFL Network, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets, Twitter Tagged With: Amazon, Apple, ESPN, NFL, NFL Network, Tablet

PrePlay takes Aim at Major League Baseball with Latest App

September 13, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

MLB PrePlay

PrePlay, one of the early app developers in the growing predictive sports space has returned with a new program entitled MLB PrePlay that is aimed at the fans of Major League Baseball and was launched in conjunction with MLB’s digital media arm Major League Baseball Advanced Media.

The alignment with MLBAM is a coup of sorts for the developer because not only will it have the blessing of the sport but it will also be able to use logos and markings that are MLBs, but that is the smaller of the advantages.

It will also have access to the Gameday API. This is the technology that helps drive some of the most popular sporting apps on the market, MLB at Bat and Beat the Streak, both of which are MLB properties.

The app has the advantage that fans of the sport can use it as both an in-game or pre-game tool; you can use it while following a current game to make predictions about upcoming plays ranging from individual at bats to how an inning will turn out to when a pitching change will occur. It also allows for pregame and in-between innings predictions.

However if you are unable to watch the game you can use the app prior to the opening pitch as well making predictions along similar lines such as who will be the winning pitcher, how fast will the fastest pitch be and a wide range of other options.

The program is designed to enable you to compete with friends and even create competitions with them to see who can most accurately predict outcomes and allows you to chat with them during the event, or trash talk as your case may be. It can be opened to a wider audience if you feel that your skills warrant the extra competition.

MLB PrePlay also comes equipped with Facebook Login, Twitter integration, and a trophy case. The free app is currently available at Apple’s iTunes App Store and is compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Predictive sports apps are increasingly popular, and so the market is seeing a growing number of apps that cater to them, some broad based supporting multiple sports and some just one sport. I like the single sports approach, at least right now. I can go to an app like Bantr for soccer, Pickmoto for football or this one for baseball and talk and predict with friends. With the average iPhone user having over 100 apps, according to Apple, one more is not really going to cause confusion on the average users’ phone.

Of course at times when multiple sports seasons are all ongoing at the same time my opinion might change as I have to switch back and forth, but for most of the summer it’s just baseball for me.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Major League Baseball, MLB PrePlay, Pickmoto, PrePlay Tagged With: Apple, iPhone, MLB, PrePlay

SportsPicker Challenge Provides Cyber Bragging Rights with Real World Prizes

September 5, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

SportsPicker

Want to show that you know your stuff about the upcoming NFL season, or possibly on one of the other major sports ranging from NBA, MLB to MLS and EUFA Championship soccer to your Facebook friends?

Well the SportsPicker Challenge, developed by OHK Labs might just be the app that you have been looking for as it not only covers those sports but also others such as NCAA basketball and football among others.

Everybody has friends that like to brag about how well they pick winners in sporting contests but a little digging often shows that they tend to do so without taking the odds into consideration, something that would have made the task considerably harder. And that is one feature that sets the app apart from others.

Users select the sport that you want to follow and make predictions about how a week’s slate of games is going to turn out, using the odds that have been established for that event. The apps scoring system takes the odds into account so that a victory by the favored team earns 100 points, and underdog team wins earn between 125 and 200 points, depending on the odds of winning.

The importance of the points is due to the apps challenge periods that feature prizes. The nice thing about the prizes is that they are real ones and not a cyber award that only is usable on the app. The company is offering gift cards from a variety of companies including Amazon, Sports Authority, Best Buy and others.

In addition, for the opening week of the NFL (which starts tonight) three fans will win an EA Sports Madden 13 for picking the most winners in the opening week of the season. The OHK has said that it plans to have approximately $10,000 in prizes. Users do not have to participate in sponsored events. They can get friends to join and compete with them via your own challenges.

There s no cost to play and fans have two options; they can play on Facebook or via their iPhone using a free app available at Apple’s iTunes store. It has just emerged from beta testing in time for the start of Football.

There are a growing number of apps that do some of what SportsPicker Challenge does, but as far as I know none use the odds as part of the equation. There are plenty of apps that allow for bragging rights and even some that have prizes, but as far as I have seen the prizes are mostly cyber ones- points for contests and to get extra privileges. This is the one of first that has real world prizes, something I think that fans can appreciate as much as bragging rights.

There are single sports ones that provide prizes including the cool $1 million that the NFL is now offering but that is a fantasy league and so really a horse of a different color. PickMoto is also a one sports play, at least currently.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, Facebook, iOS, iPhone, Major League Baseball, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, NFL, NHL, SportsPicker Challenge Tagged With: Apple, iOS, MLB, NFL, NHL, OHK Labs, SportsPicker

Friday Grab Bag: Apple/Samsung Jury Forms, NFL Cutdowns, Kindle Loses Big Sale

August 24, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Major League Baseball

Now that it has decided to test expanded replay, Major League Baseball is testing a pair of systems to see which will better meet its needs which will now include examining fair/foul calls and trapped balls.

MLB will have one system installed at Yankee Stadium and the other at the Mets' Citi Field in order to conduct tests. The systems are expected to be up and running by the end of this month and will be used in September games, according to Yahoo Sports.

Google Nexus 7 sales to hit 7 million
A report has surfaced from Tech-thought.net that said it estimates that Google will sell as many as 7 million of its Nexus 7 tablets this year, an amazing feat that would put it in among the leaders in tablet sales.

That number would be more than twice what Google had originally estimated it would sell, but demand has been strong and in the first weeks it sold out of its entry level model that starts at $199.

Look to Awful Announcing for your NFL broadcast news
Now that the NFL season is around the corner its time to look at one important aspect of the games — the announcers. I find most announcers to be pretty grating and often watch games on mute rather than expose myself to their blather.

Some brave souls not only listen, but rate them with the pros. So head over to Awful Announcing and lend a hand. The site also does nice work covering many aspects of sports.

Microsoft to build 3 million Surface tablets in 2012?
Market research firm IDC said that it expects Microsoft to build 3 million Surface tablets in 2012, according to an interview run in C/net. The estimate includes tablets that run Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT.

In the interview with IDC analyst Bob O’Donnell C/net reported that he believed that the entry level price of at least one version of the tablets would be in the $199 range, putting it in a head to head price competition with the smaller 7-inch tablets and making it much less expensive than offerings from Apple and Samsung.

America’s Cup World Series mishaps
One captain at this week’s America’s Cup World Series races predicted carnage due to the sailing conditions on San Francisco Bay. Well the San Francisco Chronicle has done a nice job of providing a photo essay on that topic.

Dell not as enthusiastic on Surface sales
Dell executives said that the company expects that Microsoft’s Surface tablets will represent a very small percent of the overall PC units in the next year. Michael Dell, founder and CEO said that he expects the numbers to be between 1% and 2%.

The company has reported that its PC and mobility sales were down 14% for the most recent quarter and sees tablets as eroding that space. The company will be among the hardware developers expected to deliver Windows 8-based tablets in the fall.sales have been

ESPN bids on BCS playoffs
Now that the BCS has altered its championship format to now feature a playoff, the next step is of course to sell the rights to broadcast those games. ESPN has been broadcasting the BCS Championships the past few years and it has the opportunity to continue.

It has been reported that starting Oct 1, ESPN will have an exclusive 30-day window in which to purchase the playoff rights from the BCS. The BCS is also working on a new revenue-sharing plan to work out how the playoff money will be divided.

Think you are well informed re Apple vs Samsung — look at Jury form
The form that the jury is using for the case is 20 pages long and looks like a college exam. I really feel sorry for the jury and expect that they will need to constantly have to get refreshers on what all of the varied elements are in the case.

Huge U.S. Government Kindle purchase killed
ITWorld is reporting that the U.S. Department of State has canceled a large order for Amazon’s Kindle Touch tablets along with additional content. The order was valued at $16.5 million over the course of its lifetime.

The department said that it was taking a second look at the requirements of the program and was conducting additional market research. The contract originally called for an initial 2,500 e-readers and 50 titles of content.

NFL roster reductions start Monday
For NFL fans some of the most interesting days, prior to when they actually start playing, will be coming up over the next week as teams will have to reduce rosters from the current 90 player level to 53 by Aug. 31.

Teams will be looking to shore up perceived weak areas as a flood of players hit the market with the first cut down next Monday to 75 and then again later in the week. I wonder how many might find a place in the USFL or other alternative leagues?

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Awful Announcing, Baseball, BCS, Dell, ESPN, Kindle, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, NFL, Samsung, Smartphone, Surface, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Samsung