The biggest difference between the FIFA World Cup 2010 and the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing will have nothing to do with what transpires on the playing field or within the sporting arena.
Mobile communication technology, specifically kick-started by a flurry of iPhone apps, will revolutionize how the world watches and follows the games for the better.
Think about it, when the 2008 Olympics took place in Beijing last year, the iTunes App Store was only a couple months old. While it received a fair amount of attention right out of the gate, the iPhone apps had yet to become the game-changer that we see today. Developers were not focusing on creating meaningful apps for that competition at that point.
Fast-forward to June and July of 2009 and the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Today’s more than 100,000 iPhone apps will probably be double the size at that point. There are already several apps that exist devoted to the games. No doubt the major international media companies and brands like Nike (including the Nike Football+ presents: Master Control iPhone application) will be in full force.
We are really only just scratching the surface.
