Competition is heating to bring tech innovations to sports gear.
New Balance made a first-time appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Wednesday to announce a smartwatch for runners built with Google and the creation of a digital sport division with partners such as tech giant Intel Corp.
The 110-year-old Boston sneaker maker has already taken a stab at the future with a line of running shoes with 3-D-printed soles that can be customized to accommodate a runner’s style. The new division will explore a range of products including wearable devices for sports tracking and embedded sensors for clothing and footwear that can read hydration levels on the body and atmospheric humidity.
“Imagine a day when you’re told which shirt to wear before your run, your Bluetooth headphones are helping coach you though a difficult climb or guiding you around the city based on a certain route that you want to run,” said Chris Ladd, an executive vice president at New Balance. “We see that as a tremendous opportunity to improve our runners’ lives.”
The smartwatch joins a busy market dominated by models built by Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., as well as fitness tracker FitBit’s new product, called the FitBit Blaze, unveiled at CES on Wednesday.
Competitor Under Armor Inc. followed with its own announcement at CES Wednesday, detailing a partnership with IBM’s Watson Health team. The two companies have been working on an upgrade to Under Armor’s fitness app that will make use of the “Jeopardy!” winner’s smarts.
“For the first time, we’re going to shift the focus from collecting and reporting to insights,” said Steve Gold, a vice president at the IBM Watson group.
Under Armor’s free Record app allows users to track their exercise, meals, and sleep, and pair that data with a sleep-tracking or fitness device. Some 160 million people have accounts on the app.
With the Watson addition, the updated version will make suggestions about exercise or meals based on the user’s habits and history and the goal the person hopes to achieve.
Watson’s edge in the computing space comes from its ability to digest a variety of data types — journal articles, dietary guidelines, exercise videos, and your own exercise habits — and spit out a recommendation by making connections among relevant points. When offered new information, Watson can change its output — in other words, it learns.