Sports Technology & Communications News from Around the World

With today’s smartphones, such as Apple’s (News - Alert) iPhone, World Cup Soccer fans have an arsenal of applications at their fingertips allowing them to track the games in almost every way imaginable.

Apple’s App Store for example offers a range of World Cup and soccer-related applications for the iPhone. Some of these same applications also run on the iPad, iPod Touch, BlackBerry (News - Alert), Palm, Android and other devices.

Services provided by these applications include team-by-team analysis, match schedules, background on the stadiums and real-time (or near-real-time) scoring updates.

Some of the applications only offer specific features or only cover specific aspects of the games – while others, such as those offered by ESPN (News - Alert) and Fox, offer a comprehensive range of features and thus provide a “one-stop resource.”

The great thing about these applications (and the mobile devices they run on) is that they allow World Cup fans to track the games minute by minute, so they don’t have to miss a thing – no matter where they are located. This is important to serious fans who have to go to work during the day, which is when many of the games are broadcast live. A recent article in the New York Times does a good job of highlighting some of the more popular mobile applications and services geared specifically for World Cup fans:

ESPN 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP, for example, is a free application (with a premium upgrade for $7.99) from ESPN that is considered one of the “gold standards” in World Cup coverage. This application, according to the New York Times article, “is particularly strong in tournament history, with long narratives and breakdowns of every tournament since the first, in 1930. The teams tab provides access to a summary, news and player biographies on each of the 32 teams. ESPN also offers its power index of the top 100 teams in the world and a bracket predictor contest."

This app offers enhanced features like live play by play, live audio from ESPN radio, live commentary, scoring alerts and in-game video highlights (which will be unavailable through any other app or online outlet in the United States).

FOX SOCCER CHANNEL TICKET TO SOUTH AFRICA, which was released May 19, will bring more international flair to the coverage by integrating international news (through the many outlets in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation) with ESPN’s exclusive TV coverage. In the New York Times report, Bhavesh Patel, vice president for interactive media at Fox Sports International, said although the network won’t be offering as much live video as other services, it will be providing more original content by combining experts from both print and Web, who will provide more in-depth coverage, including live interviews with the players “that you can’t get anywhere else.”

The New York Times report said although the Fox News app is “a bit sparse with information about past World Cups,” it does offer some nice features, such as “top-of-the-screen, game-by-game scroll that will be updated with scores, rosters and scoring information once the tournament starts.”

The article also gives a quick run-down of some of the more “targeted” applications geared for international fans: MUNDIAL 2010, for example, is a Spanish-language site, with video delivered via the Univision platform, that tracks leagues from around the world “but is noticeably light in coverage of M.L.S.”

GOAL.COM is a new application that is available in nine languages. “The app’s World Cup component is only part of Goal.com’s offerings of news and standings for most of the top leagues and tournaments around the world,” the report states.

Other targeted World Cup applications and/or services geared for the international crowd include SOUTH AFRICA 2010 TRACKER; 2010 SOUTH AFRICA LIVE; SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD CUP GUIDE; 2010 WORLD CUP NEWS; and VUVUZELA 2010.