Acer Inc, MediaTek Inc and EasyCard Corp yesterday promised to donate 13,000 smartwatches for distribution to athletes and sports delegation members participating in the Summer Universiade in August.
Giving athletes and sports officials the smartwatches represents a “new marketing logic” for the city, which had previously spent money on advertisements in international media to promote such events, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said at a ceremony to mark the sponsorships.
The city hopes to “welcome the world to Taiwan and promote Taiwan to the world” through the Universiade, and giving smartwatches as gifts is the easiest way to achieve this goal, as it would showcase the nation’s robust technology sector and “all that is good about Taiwan” to 12,000 athletes from 150 nations, Ko said.
Photo: Fang Ping-chao, Taipei Times
The watch, jointly developed by the three companies, has a built-in EasyCard that delegation members can use to pay fares when they use Taipei’s MRT system and make small transactions, Ko said.
It can also measure and record users’ physiological data, such as heart rate, calories burned and performance, the mayor said, adding that its functionality could be further improved before its official release later this year.
Ko said Acer and MediaTek are both Taiwanese brands and he hopes the Universiade will help boost their international profile.
Asked how much money the Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee would deposit in each watch before giving it to a participant, Ko said that the amount would be decided after the price for the watch is set, adding that the committee is discussing the amount of deposit with the International University Sports Federation.
EasyCard chairman Kenneth Lin (林向愷) said that rules set forth by the federation requires a host city to give each athlete 70 euros (US$74.58) to subsidize their expenses during the time the games are held, but added that the company opted to give them the watch instead, as dispensing cash would be more troublesome and, quoting Ko, “less hygienic.”
The committee said that it had secured donations from more than 20 firms, with cash donations totaling NT$18.89 million (US$597,350) as of yesterday.
The value of non-cash donations, such as beverages, airfares and sports equipment, is estimated to surpass NT$1 billion by the end of this month, it said.
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