Nike+iPod = huh?

[Roger]

The most interesting thing about the upcoming Nike shoe that communicates wirelessly with your iPod is the name of the new device. Nike+iPod.

Nike+iPod is a marriage of two eminently egotistic franchises and guess which one is wearing the sweatpants in the family?

The iPod is well accustomed to suitors of every ilk from hi-fi to home builder sticking a little i front of their brand and selling a new iPod aware product. Apple is now in danger of saturating the consumer electronics market with iPod overload. I know I've had it hearing about more devices slapping on an iPod port and calling it iThis and iThat. Now excuse me while iBarf in my iBag. At least my gastronomic upheaval is conveniently recharging my iPod!

One thing about the iBag is that the Bag Corporation let the iPod stick its name before the Bag name. Would Nike to the same? No, not Nike! You're not going to see the proud Nike name brandishing a pretty little i up front or see anything like iPod+Nike. No, no, no. Nike has been - just doing it far too long to play second banana to an Apple product.

Nike+iPod Sport Kit

What a brilliant name. One can imagine the marketing meetings over that one.

What the heck is it? Outside of a way to sell a few more iPods and a new pair of Nike shoes, its real purpose is a bit ambiguous. Apparently a foot sensor in a special Nike shoe will track statistics of your run. The information is sent wirelessly to the iPod nano and presents it on the display. It's not been released yet but might be a pretty cool gimmick, at least for a little while.

As someone who runs semi-regularly wearing a perfect pair of Mizuno shoes I have little desire to switch to Nike for an extra iPod feature. I go through phases where I'll run with my iPod cranking tunes. Call me old fashioned but I don't think my iPod needs to be any more involved in my runs than giving me some background noise. Do I need "voice feedback" and/or statistical analysis of my run from the iPod?

I'm no athlete but when I run the only statistical analysis I need is:


Sucking air like it might be my last breath? Check!
Still standing? Check!
Then it was a good run.

I suppose if you had an iPod nano or were interested in purchasing one, run seriously and liked Nike shoes - hey, this might be a good fit. But to me it seems like an effort to just merge the two mega-brands into a product because it simply hasn't been done yet.

Reading the literature on Apple's site about the product leaves me with more questions than answers. I'm still not sure exactly what this thing does and how. Some of the features sound downright scary. What is "Nike Sport Music content"? Are we talking a Nike playlist? Sounds like just the thing to get me making a very short run to the iToilet.

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[GarbageDog]

Bravo!

The first thing I thought when I saw this Nike+iPod stuff was what the heck are they trying to push on us now?

All this fake enthusiasm with famed athletes getting in on it. GAG!!!