Sports Technology & Communications News from Around the World

The eyes of the world are on Sochi and the unfolding drama of young men and women competing for global glory in a variety of sports known as the Winter Olympics. But one particular competition going on behind the scenes ended much more quietly, as Panasonic (News - Alert) took the gold—and only—medal in the Olympics' technology stakes. With this somewhat metaphorical win, Panasonic renews its Official Worldwide Olympic Partnership agreement through the 2024 Olympic Games, putting its technology and product line into use to support the various efforts of the Olympic Games for the next several years.

Panasonic, at last report, represents the first such partner to have established the partnership for the years 2021 – 2024, and will supply technology not just to the Winter Olympics, but to all the versions of the Olympics through that time frame. That includes not only the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, but also the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and both sets of games to be held in 2022 and 2024. This adds on to Panasonic's long history with the Olympics, having been an official partner since the first partnership agreements began at the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games, according to reports.

Panasonic had already been seen as a sponsor in audio - visual equipment, and as such brought a variety of devices in for the Olympics to use, including video surveillance equipment, audio – visual gear for both broadcast and other professional purposes, and even some less likely things like car navigation systems. To prepare for its new role in supplying the Olympic Games for the next several years, Panasonic has established the Tokyo Olympic Enterprise Division in the company to work toward new technology specifically intended to help the Olympic Games.

This is good business all the way around, really. Not only do the Olympics get some high-end technology—which it certainly needs, especially given the changes in not only how the Olympics are presented, but how the Olympics are viewed using things like streaming video—but the partners involved in said high-end technology get the ability to refer to said technology as “the official (insert technology here) of the Olympics”, and that could well sway some buying decisions. It's worth suggesting that a technology capable of filming, presenting, or otherwise carrying out some portion of the Olympic Games, one of the biggest sporting events in most any decade, is capable of doing just about anything a consumer could ever need, and certainly some businesses as well. That's not to say that's always the case—indeed, the issue of “overkill” might well make an appearance—but it may provide that all-too-important little something extra that nudges buyers on the fence into being buyers for real.

It's not a silver bullet, of course, but it could be just the help Panasonic needs on some fronts. In a market that's increasingly more competitive and marked by more consumers getting out of the market and making older products do longer, the end result here is that Panasonic may have found a way to get a slight competitive bonus in the field, and these days, any advantage is helpful.