Apple knocks it out of the park by signing iPad Pro deal with MLB

When Microsoft signed a deal with the NFL, I was pretty surprised. While it isn't surprising that the football league took Microsoft's money to promote the Surface Pro, I was surprised that Apple let it happen. After all, the NFL is big business -- I would have expected Tim Cook to step in with his company's ubiquitous iPad instead.

Today, Apple essentially smashes the Surface Pro with a baseball bat, arguably outdoing Microsoft's deal with the NFL. You see, Major League Baseball will now be using iPad Pro tablets in the dugout. While it is debatable as to which sport will have a bigger impact on sales, one thing is undeniable -- there are many more MLB games played than there are NFL, though the NFL remains more popular attendance-wise.

"Entering the 2016 MLB season, each iPad Pro has been customized for each Club and loaded with the MLB Dugout app, allowing every team's manager, coaches and players to utilize their own proprietary and strategic statistical reports, data visualizations and advance scouting videos during every MLB game from dugouts and bullpens giving them easy access to valuable, actionable baseball insights. Clubs also will have the ability to include any of their own reports with data generated from last year's first full season of Statcast tracking technology, bringing new stats for pitch tracking, hitting, baserunning and fielding, right on iPad Pro", says Mark Newman of MLB.com.

Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing explains, "iPad is our vision for the future of personal computing, and we are so excited to be working with Major League Baseball to put this incredible technology into all of their dugouts and bullpens this season. With iPad Pro and the new MLB Dugout app, managers, coaches, and players will have unprecedented access to statistics, data, and scouting videos right at the touch of their fingers and when it matters most, during the game".

Of course, as Microsoft learned the hard way, this type of publicity can backfire. When there are technical difficulties, it can equal negative press -- even if it isn't necessarily the tablet's fault. If the Mets have poor Wi-Fi at Citi Field, and have trouble using iPad Pros, you had better believe the media will report it as an Apple failure.

Has Apple made a smart move by partnering with MLB? Is it a more prestigious league than the NFL? Tell me in the comments.

Photo credit: Ljupco Smokovski / Shutterstock