Nike + iPod = Innovation
Staff Writer
As if iPod hadn't gone far enough already.
After producing video iPods, iPods phones, and installation kits for cars, Apple Computers' highly popular portable music player is bearing fresh fruit once more. Apple and Nike, two companies that most people would never imagine working together, have created a pair of shoes that work in sync with the iPod Nano (that's the really tiny one).
With a pocket under its insole, the Nike+ shoes hold a sensor that uses an accelerometer, which detects and measures vibrations. The sensor records and wirelessly transfers information from a person's run to a receiver on the runner's iPod Nano. In turn, the iPod gives the runner up-to-the-second information on his or her pace, distance traveled, and calories burned. It's like a mobile treadmill with music. The iPod gives the runner voice feedback, that way people don't get distracted by constantly looking at the iPod to read their status.
After runs, users can connect the iPod to a computer and it uploads the information, using iTunes to connect to nikeplus.com. The site has programs that will keep a history of a user's past runs. Users can set goals, see accumulative averages, and compare themselves with other runners who use the site.
Nikeplus.com and iTunes offer workout mixes that runners can download to their Nanos. The mixes have motivational coaching and training tips incorporated over the music.
Users can also compete with other runners who use the product and the Nikeplus website. The site connects you with all of the other runners who use the site, and users can challenge each other to races. All a person has to do is agree to a challenge, run on their own time and then log on to see the other person's results.
This product is one of the most innovative ideas to come from either Nike or Apple. The product efficiently integrates exercise and music and signifies yet another jump in technological advancement.
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