While top-tier sports have enjoyed a long and often lucrative symbiotic relationship with television, the wider sporting sector is increasingly keen to understand the new opportunities arising from the growing enthusiasm for online content. Broadcasters are also acutely conscious of the importance of adding streaming options to complement their traditional linear broadcast offerings.
The OTT Summit was a shortish walk from Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Currently undergoing a major renovation – including the addition of a retractable roof – the total investment in this sport business project is now expected to exceed €1 billion.
Back in 2001, I was asked to write an article offering a vision of what mobile might look like a few years hence.
As the article was due to be published shortly before the 2001 Ryder Cup at the Belfry, I tried to look forward four years to the next occasion when Europe would host the tournament.
At the time of writing in the Summer of 2001, Europe’s 3G auctions were drawing to a close but 3G wouldn’t be available commercially for another three years or so. Steve Jobs probably hadn’t even started thinking about the iPhone or apps yet: the original iPod would only be launched in October of that year. Europe’s first camera phone, the Nokia 7650, wouldn’t appear until the following year when Tom Tom would also launch its first sat-nav hardware.
With the US taking on Europe again in the Ryder Cup from tomorrow, I thought I’d try to track the article down. Originally published by Vodafone, it is no longer available on any of their websites as far as I can tell.
However it is possible to look back at what I tried to anticipate in 2001 thanks to the Internet Archive. On re-reading, I was surprised and gratified to see features I speculated about – voice control, navigation, e-ticketing and mobile money, smart watches, casting – hadn’t turned out to be so ridiculous.
PS: 9/11 happened between the original publication and the scheduled end-of-September date for the 2001 Ryder Cup: that year’s tournament was postponed for a year, and the bi-annual event has been held in even years ever since. A second cancellation due to the Covid-19 pandemic means that the 2020 Ryder Cup was postponed until 2021, to return the tournament to odd years.
PPS: As someone with a personal interest in 19th century sporting history, I’ve searched the Internet Archive quite a few times. I’m still trying to work how I feel about some of my own writing now residing there!
PPPS: Sam Ryder, who donated the eponymous trophy, made his fortune with a mail order business founded in St Albans. In the way he planned and organised his business, he was the Jeff Bezos of his day. You can find out more about Sam in this video.
