Want to ‘high-five’ Ronaldo? With this app, soon you’ll be able to

Thousands of miles away from the Old Trafford football ground, he often rescheduled his weekends to make sure he was able to catch his club on TV, something he’d done since he was a child.

It was the closest he could get to seeing them live. As he looked up from his computer, he saw Paul Scholes passing the ball to Ryan Giggs, who immediately let it fly into the back of the net.

Following a muted celebration — jumping and air punches included — Murugan quickly realized how disconnected he was from the team he loved and its fellow supporters.

But he also wondered whether there was a way for far-flung fans to connect with each other during matches and share the support for their team during in real time.

Bringing the stadium to you

Murugan says Fanmode has developed smartphone apps for wearable devices like watches that are able to pick up fan language and represent it in the stadium. The plan is to partner with clubs and feed the fan sentiment “Vibeboards” directly into the grounds, where fellow supporters can see it on big screens. Players will also be able to feel the love as it will appear on monitors in team areas and in the tunnels.

For the South African entrepreneur, the ultimate dream is to install tablets and eventually devices with haptic technology capabilities in player dressing rooms so that as they come in at half-time or final whistle, they can interact with fans immediately through the app.

“Fans would ‘high five’ their favorite player during the game. (At the end of the game) he would go to the high-five panel after and see that he received 10 million high-fives through Fanmode. The player could then ‘high-five’ everyone back and they will receive it in real-time,” says Murugan.

It’s definitely ambitious — but whether star footballers would be up for “high-fiving” you, it still remains to be seen.

CNN