Nike and Apple have teamed up to create a replacement for bulky GPS watches. No longer will you need to strap on multiple watches, bulky global positioning system receivers, or small waistband-clipped pedometers. Synchronizing your iPod will also download your workouts to your computer.
The new Nike+ Air Zoom Moire is the first footwear designed to talk to iPod. Nike plans to make many of its leading footwear styles Nike+ ready, connecting millions of consumers to the Nike+iPod experience. With the Nike+ footwear connected to iPod nano through the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, information on time, distance, calories burned and pace is stored on iPod and displayed on the screen; real-time audible feedback also is provided through headphones. The kit includes an in-shoe sensor and a receiver that attaches to iPod. A new Nike Sport Music section on the iTunes� Music Store and a new nikeplus.com personal service site help maximize the Nike+iPod experience.
As I own neither an iPod nor any Nike shoes (although I may get some racing flats in the near future) I do not plan on purchasing either product. I wonder how heavy the shoe is going to be, and how well this is going to work. I am looking forward to the reviews once the product hits the market. I think that finding easy ways of integrating devices and not requiring somebody intent on the numbers in their training to carry 5000 devices with them on every workout is a great idea.
The best selling point on all this is the real-time audible feedback through the headphones. How much easier will it be to have your machines tell you what you are doing rather than having to push a bunch of buttons or look at tiny numbers?
The only thing that I wonder is how accurate the shoes are going to be. I have not been overly impressed with any of the pedometers that I have used, although I have never used ones attached to my shoes and have read some good reviews of a few models.
(Source: Run Mystic)
It looks too good to be true. But is the sensor in the shoe a GPS, or is it a pedometer-type gadget?
I figure, if you’re going to bank on these number-crunchers (and I admit, I’m a sucker for them), they should at least be pretty accurate. I wonder how on the mark it’s all going to be.
What a marketing ploy, though…!
[...] A couple of months ago, I mentioned a press release about how Nike and Apple have teamed up to create a system to integrate your running shoes with your iPod. One of the websites that I follow, My Southern California Trail Running, is written by an ultramarathoner that works for Nike. She has these points about the system to share: [...]
[...] The Nike+ shoes that integrate with a runner’s iPod are about to become much more widely available. In an article discussing the upcoming future for Nike and it’s financial stability, there was a remark from Nike President and Chief Executive Mark Parker about the future of their running shoes. [...]
[...] was not very accurate. Pedometers have improved quite a bit since then. You can even get ones that talk to you through your iPod and accurate to within [...]