A Face Lift for Soccer Balls

As seen today on BusinessWeek.com . Let's say these balls are all they are said to be. What predictable impact could this have in World Cup competition? Is weather an issue in Germany, what's the typical summer like over there, amount of precipitation to be expected, in what region and so on (e.g. are all stadiums open?). In wet conditions, this should favor fast, run & gun teams, and hinder slower or technical teams. It will be impossible to isolate the specific effect of changing the ball, except maybe on free kicks, but I can't help but wonder why they introduce it without prior practice or experience - smells like a marketing coup to me.

If you follow the NFL you know they introduced a new ball rule few years back: all game balls are spanking new. Kickers hate it. Others don't seem to care much. Has anybody studied the impact of this rule on the game, e.g. percent completion of field goals, that sort of thing...?