Nike and Apple Want to Get You in Shape

In what I think is one of the most interesting uses of the iPod yet comes the announcement that Apple and Nike are teaming up to turn your iPod nano and a pair of Nike+ shoes into your personal trainer. A small attachment that fits on the nano and a transmitter put inside specially designed Nike running shoes get you ready to go. Your nano displays stats like calories burned, distance and pace. The cool thing, though, is your iPod will be talking to you at the same time…all while listening to your own mix of workout music. The Sport Kit is going to cost $29 and the Nike+ shoes range from $85 to $110 which is about what you pay for a pair of shoes these days anyway.

The most exciting part of this is, not only will your nano track this information for you, it also uploads and saves it for you so you can see your progress (or lack of). Talk about a great way to attract users and keep them by creating an online community around it. Not only will you be able to dissect your personal exercise data in multiple ways, but you can also challenge friends (and enemies?) anywhere to virtual races and let your Sport Kits be the judges. About two years ago, I bought a treadmill, hoping it would get me to start exercising. Well it did, about three months ago. I’ve been avoiding going outside to run (must be a geek thing), but I think this new nano personal trainer is going to be the thing that gets me out of the house.

It’s great that Apple is finding new and different ways to leverage the iPod line without really doing much to change the iPod itself. The last thing I’d want is an iPod that has 101 features crammed into it. That’s what you find most of Apple’s competitors doing to try to compete. It seems whenever the iPod line might be entering a possible stagnation period, something like this comes along to get the excitement level back up. The more Apple can wrap up other uses, though still keep to the iPod’s purpose of being a music player, the harder it is going to be for anybody, even Microsoft, to steal any of the iPod market share away. Most of all, I think Apple is proving they are willing to work with other companies to expand the iPod’s capabilities. I hope we see more partnerships like this.