Garmin Connect Technologys Impact on Sports

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Introduction

I will use this paper to focus on the merits and demerits of Garmin Connect, which is a type of a technology applied in sports.

The purpose of this paper is to succinctly analyze Garmin Connect with regard to its benefits and shortcomings while comparing it to some other technologies that are applied in sports. The paper will also aim at arguing for the use of the technology in the contemporary world that is characterized by a high level adoption of IT tools.

My belief is that Garmin Connect and other sports technologies have positively impacted sports across the world by ensuring that people participate in sporting activities more conveniently than in the past. In the modern world, people want to closely monitor their physical activities so that they could be sure that they are benefiting.

One of the merits of the technology is that it can be applied in many sports such as swimming, biking and hiking, among others (Kessler, 2011). Second, it is used to store the correct data with regard to training in the field. The data help in making judgments about progress, which could be essential in making adjustments aimed at achieving better results.

Third, the application has the potential to give the right statistics of sporting activities of an individual based on data analysis. Fourth, Garmin Connect has the merit of sharing all fitness activities of an individual on the internet (Garmin, 2014). Some of the drawbacks if the technology is that it cannot work in the absence of stable internet connections and it requires some specialized devices. In addition, it may require some expertise with regard to IT applications (Kessler, 2011).

Brief description of the history and reception of selected technology

Garmin International, Inc. is credited with introducing the technology. The firm was started in 1989 in Kansas. However, the first name given to the company was ProNavs, before it was renamed to Garmin (Garmin, 2014). The history of the business establishment shows that it grew from a very humble beginning, which was characterized by just one product in the market.

The GPS product that was intended to increase connectivity among users was sold at $2500. It was in the early 1990s that Garmin got the first of its main consumers of its innovative product. The customer was the US Army. It was estimated that Garmin had made sales of about 3 million GPS devices by the start of the millennium. At the same time, it was producing over fifty diverse models of its product. When it was offered to the public in 2000, Garmin was selling its products in over 100 countries across the world, with about 1205 workers, most of who were deployed in the US market (Garmin, 2014).

The technology is the latest product adopted by the company. It was rolled out on the platforms of the existing products, such as GPS devices. The firm took advantage of its existing markets to introduce the new technology. For example, it was estimated that the company had established a stable network of 2500 distributors in the 100 countries that it operated in the 2000s.

Advertising on the internet has been a perfect platform on which the product been popularized. It s expected that most customers of the technology are knowledgeable about the use of the internet. Thus, it was selected as the best option for launching Garmin Connect. Currently, Garmin Connect can be found on various sites such as Facebook and Twitter (Garmin, 2014). In fact, the use of online advertising was the best approach to ensuring that the product was adopted by users across the world.

Users were quite enthusiastic about a product that could allow them to monitor their sporting activities while both indoors and outdoors. Customers were happy that, finally, the pioneer of GPS devices introduced a device that could remotely control their statistics and help them make adjustments when needed. Currently, it is estimated that the technology has over 10 million users across the world.

This number is expected in the future due to the rapid adoption of the internet, which forms the basis of the product with regard to its functioning. For example, many regions in the developing world are in the process of being connected to the internet, which will make people subscribe to Garmin Connect.

The world of sports is characterized by rapid advancements of equipment due to improvements on technological applications (Butryn & Masucci, 2009). Other technologies perform almost similar functions, but they do not involve internet connections and storage of data. In other words, similar products allow devices to capture real-time data.

For example, swimming tracker is a device that can be put on the wrist or on legs by swimmers to record the time taken to complete certain distances. However, the data are not stored for future analysis. Another example is the use of technologies in athletics, which involve the determination of the time taken by athletes on specific lanes to complete races. Just like the swimming tracker technology, there is not analysis and storage of data.

In-depth discussion of research on how people use this technology or similar products

The introduction of Garmin Connect in the management of sporting activities has attracted a lot of attention from researchers. The aim of conducting research into the topic is to determine the impact of the technology in improving the results of sports across the world (Kang, Shilton, Estrin & Burke, 2011). Research is being conducted to ascertain the age brackets of the users of the product.

This would be essential in determining the right markets for the technology across the world (Kang et al., 2011). The following is the major research question: How can the use of Garmin Connect impact the way people engage in sports? Currently, there are over ten million users of the product acoss the world, most of who are in the US. The following graph shows the data with regard to the adoption of the product across age brackets.

Figure 1. A bar graph comparing the adoption rates of Garmin Technology on the premises of age brackets of users.

Important findings have been obtained with regard to the use and/or impact of the technology. Research has shown that Garmin Connect has positively impacted peoples lives in many ways. Research results show that the application has made a significant number of people adopt sporting activities because they have the ability to monitor their statistics with the use of Garmin Connect.

Many people are able to make changes in their fitness exercises as well as make adjustments based on the analysis of data done by the application (Hudson, Fudge & Rae, 2011; Kessler, 2011). In addition, research has demonstrated that Garmin Connect help people not in the sports fraternity to improve their general health status. For example, they are able to monitor their cardiovascular performance during and after physical exercises.

Two main lessons can be learnt from the research on this technology. First, technology is inevitable in the sports fraternity. Second, the use of the internet has many applications, which could greatly improve the life of human beings.

A personal reflection on the impact this research has on my own life

I came to learn about the technology on the internet while I was doing research on technologies that could help to document sports data online. This was motivated by my desire to learn more with regard to sports because that is my envisaged career. At first, I could not believe that such a technology existed, but I was able to create an account with the technology online and I started using the service.

I selected the topic because I am enthusiastic about sports and related technologies. I wanted to learn more about advancements in my career field. In addition, the topic was among the latest innovations in the sporting world that made an excellent use of the internet.

Garmin Connect has revolutionized sports by enabling the collection, analysis and presentation of data.

Conclusion

Research in the future should focus on determining the impacts of the technology on a broad spectrum of sporting activities. The following research questions would be answered:

What is the overall impact of Garmin Connect on all sporting activities?
How can the use of the technology be increased?

Low internet connectivity in some regions could negatively impact the usage of the application.

Generally, the technology can have impacts on sports and health states of individuals across the world.

Garmin Connect has the potential impact sports and health outcomes of millions of users.

References

Butryn, T. M., & Masucci, M. A. (2009). Traversing the Matrix Cyborg Athletes, Technology, and the Environment. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 33(3), 285- 307.

Garmin, (2014). Sports Features.

Hudson, C., Fudge, C., & Rae, J. (2011). From products to services: Understanding the new rules of engagement. Design Management Review, 22(4), 46-53.

Kang, J., Shilton, K., Estrin, D., & Burke, J. (2011). Self-surveillance privacy. Iowa L. Rev., 97(23), 809.

Kessler, F. (2011). Volunteered geographic information: A bicycling enthusiast perspective. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 38(3), 258-268.

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