Product Idea: The Pongle

My Name is Cody. I have an idea but no investment money.

I call my idea the Pongle. Similar to a “dongle”, the Pongle is a thumb-sized device that attaches to the bottom of any table tennis racket adding functionality to the racket.

Opportunity is abundant where Social, Mobile and Local converge in the Cloud.

The ITTF is the world-wide governing body of Table Tennis. They are incentivized to increase the participation levels of Table Tennis.

Table Tennis (aka Ping-Pong) can be segmented into four different types of players.

These are two commercially viable products that are similar to the Pongle. Both have Bluetooth communication and can pair with a smart device.

There have been several attempts to innovate in Table Tennis. Above are a few innovative products and ideas. The Theo Ball is not involved in Table Tennis but is an innovation similar to the Pongle.

This chart shows how many people use Facebook, Twitter, and Smartphones world-wide. Lastly, there is an estimated 300 million people world-wide that participate in Table Tennis.

Here is how many people play table tennis world-wide broken out by player segment. Notice that Recreational Players include 298 million people. The Social Player is a new and fast growing segment.

This is a conceptual map depicting how Social, Local and Mobile interact within the cloud. Where they converge (or overlap) is where abundant opportunities live.

This conceptual map shows that little to no data exists regarding each player segment.In fact, the only data acquisition happens when players participate in a tournament, but only Amatuers and Pro’s do this.

This model has limited capacity and is capital intensive.

This model only attracts Pro and Amateur players….not Recreational or Social Players

This model has scalability. It is attractive to Social Players. Pro’s and Amateurs are not interested in this model.

1. There were just physical games to entertain humans

Once upon a time….

2. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, virtual games became possible. So, we had physical games and virtual games to play.

When the Wii Console was introduced, we could physically play Table Tennis in a virtual world. Therefore, the physical realm moved into the virtual realm for the first time.

Today, it is commercially viable to market products that move the virtual realm into the physical realm. Two examples are FitBit and Nike Fuel Band. The Pongle would do this as well.

When a Pongle pairs with a smart device, data is collected and computed in the cloud. When that happens the possibilities are endless.

Thanks to the Pongle, participation levels will increase, skill levels will get better, data will become abundant and the ITTF will be able to identify talent like never before.