Sumitomo Rubber has newly developed Japan’s first voicebot on golf advice, introducing a conversational AI platform provided by Enoki. The system has been released free of charge on Oct. 6 as a new feature of D-Golf, the company’s smartphone application to support golf life. A voicebot is a system that uses conversational AI, voice recognition, natural language processing, and other...
Bridgestone Corp.’s (TYO:5108) golf business is planning an April 15 launch for the Tour B JGR Splash, a golf ball with new functionality. The ball takes the design of the existing Tour B JGR – which has met with good reviews for its role in maximizing the carry of amateur golfers – and adds the benefit of water repellency. While...
Bridgestone Sports Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108), has announced that a line of spikeless golf shoes under its Tour B series achieved a major sales landmark over Sept. 10–16, becoming the week’s top-selling over-the-counter line of spikeless golf shoes in Japan. This comes as Bridgestone has applied technologies from its tires to the new line of shoes,...
Golf equipment maker Kasco Corp. has announced that it will next April release a new golf ball made using eucommia elastomer. The ball, branded the Biospin, will be a high-end product with a suggested retail price of 1,000 yen ($8.88) per ball. The cover material is made with trans-1,4-polyisoprene, an inedible biomass produced by the Eucommia ulmoides tree – also...
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.’s (TYO:5110) group company Dunlop Sports Co. Ltd. (TYO:7825) has released consolidated financial results showing an increase in both revenue and profit for the combined first three quarters (January–September) of the fiscal year ending December 2017. For this period, the company reported 55.76 billion yen ($488.91 million) in sales, up 1.8 percent from the same period a...
Bridgestone Sports Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108), has persevered in a challenging domestic market for the golf products business in Japan during 2016. As a result, the company projects that year-on-year golf ball sales will be up 5 percent. While cutting back on selling bargain goods, Bridgestone Sports has increased sales of authentic products by more than...
