Nike and Apple today announced a partnership bringing the worlds of sports and music together like never before with the launch of innovative Nike+iPod products. The first product developed through this partnership is the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, a wireless system that allows Nike+ footwear to talk with your iPod nano to connect you to the ultimate personal running and workout experience.
Nike CEO Mark Parker and Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Nike+iPod at an event in New York attended by seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe.
“Nike+iPod is a partnership between two iconic, global brands with a shared passion for creating meaningful consumer product experiences through design and innovation,” Parker said in the press release. “This is the first result, and Nike+iPod will change the way people run. Nike+iPod creates a better running experience. We see many more such Nike+ innovations in the future.”
“We’re working with Nike to take music and sport to a new level,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “The result is like having a personal coach or training partner motivating you every step of your workout.”
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: http://www.nike.com/nikeplus/
Armstrong, who is preparing for his first NY Marathon, said, “If you can incorporate time, distance and calories burned together and make it function for both the fitness runner and the high level athlete, it will take working out to a whole other level.”
“I definitely use music both ways,” Radcliffe said. “I listen to faster music if I am doing a workout in the gym to just get the best out of myself, but I also use it to help me relax in the buildup to a big race.”
Specially designed Nike apparel, including jackets, tops, shorts and an iPod nano armband, bring together the Nike+iPod experience with waterproof pockets that accommodate iPod nano and are designed to make it easy to operate while staying tuned to your music during an active workout.
Lance Armstrong on Nike+iPod video:
Direct link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrcDyxpDY9s
How Nike+iPod works video:
Direct link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVDEXzxZWQw
The Nike+iPod Sport Kit is expected to be available within 60 days for a suggested retail price of US$29 through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores, Apple Authorized Resellers as well as Nike.com, Niketown, NikeWomen stores and select retail stores in the US.
The Nike+iPod Sport Kit requires a Nike+ shoe and an iPod nano with a Mac with a USB 2.0 ports and Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later and iTunes 6.0.5; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000, XP Home or Professional (SP2) and iTunes 6.0.5.
More info about Nike+iPod: http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/
MacDailyNews Take: Don’t forget your iPod socks!
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Related articles:
Analyst: Nike+Apple = iPod as a platform – May 23, 2006
Apple and Nike shares rise folowing Nike+iPod announcement – May 23, 2006
How about a shoe that tracks your steps per second and plays a song that aligns with that beat.
Or maybe plays certain songs on your iPod when you are running
Run to You -Bryan Adams
Runnin with the Devil -Van Halen
Long Distance Run Around -Yes
Run Through the Jungle -Creedence
The Long Run -The Eagles
When it senses you are slowing down it will play Running on Empty by Jackson Brown
If you have a shoelace untied it will play Tie Your Mother Down by Queen or Come Undone by Duran Duran
I’m waiting for the Jockey shorts version…
up pops on your iPod:
Danger Will Robinson, Danger! Your jockey shorts have filled with a toxic gas!
I’ll bet they were going to have Lance Armstrong as the athlete and Cheryl Crow as the musician, but that got nixed when they broke up.
Also, didn’t Nike have their own brand of MP3 players a while ago? what’s up with that? They figured they could sell more sneakers than players I guess…
MW = likely
That is toe much. Not to be a heel, but isn’t it a bit overarching? Something must be afoot for them to nail that one down. Nike has a tendon-cy to try ballsy, new things. May not be a shoer thing either but certainly a kick.
Fantastic new product! Nice job Apple and Nike!!!!!
I wonder if the shoes can tell your iPod how much your feet stink.
I think this is a smart move by Nike. Focus on your core competency.
My sister in-Law bought the Nike MP3 player because she is very sporty and identifies with the Nike brand more easliy than that of apple. I think this collaberation will work well for both parties assuming Nike do not charge a premium for leaving a little hole in the sole of their footwear.
I wonder if they will consider a version 2 with a heart monitor connectivity?
I think it will be difficult to read this information while running if the ipod is on your arm.
Is this like the old “Get Smart” TV show where Maxwell would take off his shoe and put it to his ear to get his info from The Chief? : )
ampar – that was too much!
If your nose runs and your feet smell, you were probably born upside down.
1sex,
yea you get feedback on how many strokes per minute.
“ampar – that was too much!”
Well, that WAS the sole reason!
I’m a little disappointed in Apple for publicly partnering with a corporation with such an abysmal human rights record.
stocks are all bubble
Now, I hope Apple hooks up with some bicycle gear provider to make an iPod for road bikes that keeps all the usual stats like time, distance, etc. as well as adding cardio info. Runners aren’t the only folks who like to keep track of exercise data.
But can it make a SWOOSH sound?
Apple plans to reveil..
– ipod Refrigrator : you can freez your meat while listening to mp3’s.
– ipod bottle: now you dont have to take a trip to the bathroom at nights.
– ipod printer : costs a little more than hp but good stuff.
– ipot pipe : for weed smoking americans.
apple’s stock is definetly a buy altho its to expensive and will go below $50 soon.
Now you can toast bread while listening to britney spears!!! how execiting is that. very. that said. stocks market is a bubble.
I think there’s a vibrator on sale somewhere that throbs oh-so-pleasantly in time with the stuff on your iPod…
Hey, the runner in the advert on Apple’s page has a sweet rack.
Why not go further? Wear a Nike wristband with a sensor to measure blood pressure and heart beat per minute, then send the info to the nano. The nano wireless is done, all you need is one more tiny sensor to get better info on your work out.
“I think there’s a vibrator on sale somewhere that throbs oh-so-pleasantly in time with the stuff on your iPod…”
You could play The Divinyls, “I Touch Myself.”
MW: became, which is not exactly grammatically correct.
They were going to release this two month ago but no one would have believed it is it was announced on April 1.
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Excuse me sir, your shoe is ringing!
And, loving it!