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Blogvent Day 17 – 17 Slams for Federer and other comebacks?

Business | Sport | Technology

How many people out there are betting against Roger Federer making it 17 grand slam wins next year? Rafa Nadal had an undeniably great season with 3 successive majors and a career grand slam of all four titles. But the way Roger played in the season ending Barclays ATP Tour Finals in London last month indicated a clear intent to re-establish himself as the top dog. Some commentators can say that in the final Rafa was jaded after his long match against Murray the day before. But in reality Roger came out to play with a new aggressive game plan and a few refined shots such as an improved top spin backhand. It wasn’t just in the final either as earlier in the week he had demolished Murray, Ferrer, Soderling and Djokovic in an equally impressible manner. Such standards of play sent a clear signal to all comers that Roger is in no way intending to fade away just yet.

In the world of technology, where b2b and b2c brands are fighting it out for supremacy through superior strategy and execution, there were some other less visible and exciting but equally intriguing battles. Cisco has been in the wars, both on the stock market and competing in the market against previous alliance partners such as HP. But people write off Cisco at their peril: the company may be bigger and growing more slowly than before but still is a formidable competitor operating in a broader range of large and/or growth markets. Expect them to bounce back with a vengeance in 2011.

Apple is a tech high flyer that doesn’t suffer from being out of favour with the stock markets, but its success is attracting competitors on many fronts. The latest generation of Android means that competitors can more quickly follow the market lead established by products and categories like the iPad. This means that Apple will be have to be more nimble and creative with new opportunities to keep ahead of the pack. The iTunes and AppStore cash cows will quickly fade if the lead products fail to capture the hearts and minds of the buying public for long. What will Apple be tempting us with in 2011?

So whatever field of endeavour there are always the challenged and the challengers. Scott McNealy used to say “have lunch or be lunch”. But we think that sport and technology are two areas that can not only support each other, but also provide some interesting and entertaining battles.

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