With the Australian Open kicking off in Melbourne as we speak I thought it would be great to see what the first major sporting event of the year has in store for us from a social media perspective.
Well, they haven’t disappointed with a great iPad app being made available for sale ahead of the tennis. Unveiled on 7th January, it has already become the 3rd most popular iPad app in the sports section with no paid for promotion.
What is so special about this particular app and why is it newsworthy in any way? Well it takes the concept of having a online programme, mixes it with live updates of matches and then adds a twist that makes it really relevant to those at the event.
This novel piece that sets it apart is the exciting digital autograph collecting feature. This ensures that it is moves from just being a programme that is nice for those really into their tennis and takes it into the real fans hands as a way of getting those treasured autographs, saving them on your iPad (then laptop, iPhone, etc) and sharing them with your friends.
Not quite as valuable as having the ball or t-shirt signed, framed and in pride of place in your home but it is a really nice, creative feature that gets into the mindset of the fans who are attending the event and the fans who cannot make it.
“We’re very excited to be launching this new app for iPads,” said Tennis Australia chief executive Steve Wood.
“It contains a lot of top class editorial content alongside the latest digital stream of live data from the tournament.”
“Tennis Australia and IBM built a solution that combined the power of social media with the wealth of content produced throughout the tournament to provide a richer, multi-layered tournament experience to tennis fans around the world.”
Is this the future of how sports events can make the most of the iPad? And at $4.99 per download there is certainly an income generating element there that cannot be ignored. Be interesting to see what the feedback will be like and how many downloads it generates.
