At the Manhattan Plaza Racquet Club last week, PIQ and Babolat held an exclusive event to unveil a new product – a wrist sensor that tracks everything about a tennis player’s game. The accessory, named POP, was created with one goal in mind: to get people to have more fun while playing tennis, leading to people playing more often and improving their skills while doing so.
Priced at $89.99, POP will give users access to information such as their serve speeds, the angle they strike the ball with, and even how someone should reposition their style. The different sensors calculate the player’s peak score with the intention of displaying what the person is best at in a positive and engaging way. The accompanying app to POP allows people to engage in competition amongst other users. PIQ CEO Cedric Mangaud emphasized that the product isn’t meant to be a coach, but more as a tool for increasing the enjoyment people get out of playing tennis.
“There are products out there that are focused on performance but the spirit behind PIQ is more of positive. What we believe is that people have less and less time in their lives so they want to maximize their time in all aspects of life. So when they play sports they want to grab the essence of what they have done well and be efficient.”
Users can immerse themselves as deeply as they want into the information that POP compiles, but Mangaud believes that the surface data should aim to encourage the player. Babolat Connected Players Experience Project Director Jean-Marc Zimmerman has the same mindset, resulting in the harmonious partnership that was formed less than a year ago.
“We found PIQ and immediately found a common ground and we got the product out. The overall development process took us about 9 months, which was a technical challenge. We brought our tennis expertise and also the expertise we got from developing our connected racket, and PIQ brought all the technological expertise they have on how to develop a cool app and how to manufacture a sensor.”
Mangaud’s background in software and services combined with his entrepreneurial tendencies led him to start PIQ two years ago. He had already sold his previous company to HTC, where he stayed on as head of services and started to get a taste of hardware development. POP is the amalgamation of all of Mangaud’s past work experiences and required an extremely high amount of technological competence.
“The final product has 13 access sensors. We then added two accelerometers to determine your peak moments. We also have a gyroscope, to see angles and everything. Other components are used to determine things like if you’re playing volley or from the back. And we have an M4 processor that is able to calculate everything right away. On top of that we have a display that can be seen in any weather, a shockproof frame that’ll protect the device, and a high level of comfort.”
Zimmerman and Mangaud are both aware that the introduction of wearable gadgets in sports has just begun and isn’t anywhere near a tipping point. For that reason, the two are more interested in creating the best possible sustainable product as opposed to selling as many units as possible. As a part of a company that’s been ingrained into the sport of tennis for over a hundred years, Zimmerman understands that change doesn’t occur quickly in the sport. He sees POP as the next step in the growth of connected tennis following the release of their connected racket five years ago.
“For me, it’s about getting the experience out there and having people understand with connected tennis is. Tennis is so conservative, so its very difficult for people to understand that technology can help tennis. By using POP, you don’t have to change your racket; you just put it on your wrist. And if you like using it, maybe from there you end up trying a connected racket.”
POP is the second product PIQ has made with a top company in a sport, the other being a golf accessory with Mobitee. Mangaud has ambitions to create similar sensors in as many as 24 sports by following the same method of partnering with industry leaders in different sports.
“There are usually 2 or 3 big brands in each sport, so our thinking was lets not play by ourselves but instead with someone who will bring us the expertise of the sport. How can you be an expert on every sport? We would like to have a third product by the end of the year. The brand we want to work with wants to keep it secret but it’s a mass sport like tennis or golf. Next year we will start working on niche sports like wakeboarding or surfing.”
As the union of technology and sport rapidly continues to develop, wearable devices are poised to make a loud entrance into society. Mangaud and Zimmerman are hoping that POP leads that charge from the frontline.