Consumer tech giant Apple has signed a multiyear partnership deal with the Major League Baseball, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
As part of the deal, Apple will supply each team with 12.9-inch iPad Pro tablets with acustom app built by MLB's Advanced Media division andApple.
Thepartnership also aims to helpMLB's coaching staff use data analytics to optimize athleticperformance, the newspaper reported. The teams will be able to access performancestatistics of current and past seasons, create probability spraycharts of players hitting or missing the ball, and watch videos ofprevious gameplays.
Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner, told the Journal that the deal coincides with the lifting of MLB's longstanding ban on the use of electronic equipment, such as smartphones, laptops and tablets, in dugouts.
"We're not just replacing binders with tablets, we're actually helping them do things that weren't possible before," Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of marketing told the Journal.
For the original WSJ report, click here.
Correction: This story was updated to correct Rob Manfred's last name.