Nike + iPod

Have you seen this yet? Nike and Apple have teamed up to put together a Nike + iPod kit that transmits running data from your Nike shoes to your iPod. Sounds cool, but I have some reservations.

The iPod will now display time and pace data (and, of course, your playlists).

If you haven’t heard of the new Nike + iPod arrangement, check it out here on Apple’s website. Unfortunately it looks like it’s only been announced—you can only sign up to be notified when you can pre-order the starter kit—but Apple and Nike have been obviously thinking this through for awhile.

Basically you need three things to make this all work with your iPod:

• The Nike + iPod sensor, which transmits the data from your shoes
• A new pair of Nike + shoes, which has a pocket beneath the insole for the sensor
• The wireless receiver which captures the sensor data and displays it on the iPod

I’m not sure if this only works with the iPod Nano. It’s definitely the one iPod model that Apple is promoting it with, but the receiver just hooks into the standard port so I don’t see a problem with using it with other iPods (other than the Shuffle, which has only a USB port).

One of the new models of Nike+ shoes, iPod-compatible.

My predictions for this new piece of creative exercise equipment:

It won’t duplicate the mainstream impact of the iPod. Let’s face it, most of us run rarely if not never. If Apple had produced a Nike-branded iPod, it would make a greater impact because lots of us are buying iPods anyway and the cachet of the Nike brand doesn’t require any extra running or sweating.

It will be a big hit among runners who have money to burn. I say this because it seems most runners are happy just keeping pace with their watch. I’m not sure those kinds of runners will care about getting data in their iPod (unless they are savvy enough to know how to sync it with nikeplus.com and track their long-term performance). But the runners and exercisers who buy $200 workout outfits and $300 shoes will not think twice about buying this product.

In ten or twenty years, all our shoes will be doing this—without an extra kit. Everything will be wired, and the Nike + iPod package is only one of the first baby steps.