The Technological Boom in the Fitness Industry

9

October

2018

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As technology is constantly developing, so does the fitness industry. Technological developments ranging from health and fitness apps and virtual workout class to activity tracking wearables have enabled us to track and access our health data everywhere, anywhere.

One of the rising trends in recent years has been wearables. More specifically, smartwatches and fitness trackers, which are dominated by following companies: Fitbit, Xiaomi, and Apple, respectively as of 2018 (Statista 2018). These leading tech companies might very soon face their less techy but very innovative apparel and shoe competitors such as Adidas AG and Under Armour.

Advancements in technologies will bring more personalization into the fitness industry than ever before. For the sake of this post, I will mention 3 patents from the article ‘The Future of Fitness’ (2018) that, in my opinion, will profoundly change the way we monitor our health.

1. Full-Body Fitness Monitoring System: patented by Adidas

Currently, sensors are attached to tracking devices. Adidas went beyond devices and acquired a patent to embed these sensors directly to clothing that allows for full body monitoring.

2. Self-Charging Smart Shoes: patented by Adidas

Another initiative by Adidas includes a solution to the wearables’ problem of charging. The company acquired a patent that allows it to build a sensor inside shoes that counts a person’s speed and steps.

3. Restaurant Nutrition Tracker: patented by Under Armour

With this patent, Under Armour would like to improve the accuracy of nutrition tracking. It has a potential to store accurate nutritional data of menu options and food items at restaurants based on GPS locations. The device should also suggest food places to meet nutrition targets.

These findings made me wonder: If self-charging smart shoes or the full-body fitness monitoring system become a success, will Adidas go after Fitbit? If Under Armour will improve nutrition tracking, should MyFitnessPal start worrying?

What do you think? 

Sources:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/435944/quarterly-wearables-shipments-worldwide-market-share-by-vendor/

https://www.puregym.com/future-of-fitness/

http://blog.pitechnologies.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2.png

 

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You Think You Can Fake It Till You Make It? VeChain Will Make You Think Again.

12

September

2018

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Are you tech savvy? Are you a neophile? Perhaps you are, perhaps you are not. But if you are using internet or social media, you have most likely heard of ‘BitCoin’. And if you heard of BitCoin, you heard of ‘Blockchain’, the buzzword of the year 2017. The blockchain technology is believed by some to be capable of disrupting the global financial system. But did you know it is also capable of disrupting the supply chain system?

VeChain Foundation is a non-profit company based in Singapore that leverages the blockchain platform to offer enterprise-level digital solutions. The company has successfully implemented solutions across various industries such as agriculture, liquor, and luxury goods. Recent exciting collaborations, however, show VeChain’s penetration into other industries such as insurance, telecommunication or automotive. The focus of this post will be on the luxury goods industry.

The lucrativeness of the luxury goods industry is the biggest reason why high-end companies became the victims of counterfeiting. Online counterfeiting cost luxury brands more than 30 billion dollars in 2017. However, not only companies are the victims of counterfeiting, but also their customers. To tackle the issue and help both businesses and customers, VeChain establishes a personal connection between luxury brands and customers and enables the traceability and transparency of the supply chain. That is, VeChain enables a user to track a whole journey of a product in real-time. Furthermore, the immutability of blockchain ensures that once data are logged into the platform they become unchangeable and thus, ensures the authenticity of the product.

Luxury brands are one of many partners of VeChain. The company is gaining a support from the public as well as private sectors. For example, the Chinese government partnered up with VeChain to receive a drug and vaccine traceability solution after the vaccine scandal. Other partners include Renault, PwC, Givenchy, BMW, Unilever, Kuehne & Nagel, DB Schenker and many more.

VeChain appears as a promising platform but why is its price dropping? Is it just another hype or will blockchain eventually transform the way businesses operate?

 

Sources:

  • https://www.vechain.com/
  • https://www.tradevigil.com/negative-effects-counterfeiting-brands/
  • http://us.fashionnetwork.com/news/Luxury-brands-lose-30-3-billion-due-to-online-counterfeiting-in-2017,977979.html
  • https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/in-china-vaccine-scandal-infuriates-parents-and-tests-government
  • https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/vechain/
  • https://vechaininsider.com/partnerships/a-complete-list-of-vechain-partnerships/

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