First came the smartphone tracker, then came the smart watch, but soon you could be tracking your fitness with a Gatorade bottle cap.
Determined to go after the FitBit crowd who are the same audience that drinks litres of Gatorade flavoured drinks, PepsiCo the Company behind Gatorade is developing a microchip-fitted “smart cap” bottle and sweat patch that communicate digitally and provide athletes and fitness buffs constant updates on their fitness and how much they should drink according to the Wall Street Journal.
Because hydration needs aren’t the same-Gatorade says sweat loss ranges from half a litre to more than 2 litre per hour of exercise-it plans to launch up to a dozen different formulas for electrolytes and carbohydrates in small pods that snap on to bottles.
Gatorade plan to reveal their high tech cap later this week in the USA.
Recently clothing group Under Armour teamed up with e-commerce retailer Zappos to tell consumers when to replace sneakers, based on mileage tracked by Under Armour’s MapMyFitness app.
Gatorade’s big push is in response to the explosive growth of wearable digital gadgets like Fitbit for consumers obsessively eager to monitor their footsteps and heart beats. The company is trying to tempt consumers to use its products around the clock-not just around the track or on the basketball court.
Global sales of wearable devices surged 172% last year to 78 million units, according to an International Data Corporation estimate.
Gatorade’s new line is far from the finish. Executives say the smart-cap bottle, sweat patch and sleep-time yogurt won’t be commercially available until next year or 2018.
Gatorade began testing the smart-cap bottle with Brazil’s national soccer team ahead of the 2014 World Cup, and is testing a new version with the Boston Celtics basketball team and FC Barcelona soccer squad.
A disposable sweat patch with battery tracks sodium loss on the forearm and is about 2 inches by one inch in size. “It is basically a Band-Aid with electronics,”‘ said Xavi Cortadellas, innovation director at Gatorade, adding that pro-athlete tests will accelerate this summer.
