Nike + iPod Expanding to Include Gym Equipment

Nice. For whatever reason, it seems to vary from person to person rather a lot whether treadmill running is accurate with the standard sensor. For me, it was within a few percent -- as good as running outside. For my ex-girlfriend, it was fantastically off -- IIRC, her runs would come out close to 50% short compared to the treadmill readout.

Nike + iPod Expanding to Include Gym Equipment



In a press release, Nike details upcoming plans for the Nike + iPod partnership with Apple. Nike and Apple are partnering with several fitness equipment manufacturers, including Life Fitness, Precor, Star Trac and Technogym, to allow Nike + iPod users to connect their iPod nanos to cardio machines and track their workouts. The equipment, including treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes and stair climbers, will be available at participating gyms such as 24 Hour Fitness in the United States and Virgin Active Health Clubs internationally.

Article Link

this is a good idea.

That's pretty nifty. I hope they put these out in high volume and at a reasonable cost because the wait time for one will be atrocious (at least at my college).

Also, I just realized I'm a 6502 now! At long last. Now for that avatar...

My original reaction is "this is lame". But then, you think about what percentage of people at gyms have ipods, how important it is to them to meet their fitness goals, and what a usefull tool this would be to track them. There is a huge market for this. Cool.

That's great news.

Wish there was a connector for just a regular bicycle though - I think they would make a bunch of cash then.

Now for the iPhone compatibility.....http://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/wink.gif

"The Nike + iPod experience revolutionized running. Now we’re revolutionizing the gym cardio experience,”

Click to expand...

They really did. You don't see many people running with Zunes. If you did, I wonder, do they freeze up and turn blue? Or do they disappear and start over from their original location (ie auto restart)?

Macsational said:

That's great news.

Now for the iPhone compatibility.....

Click to expand...

I second that

Macsational said:

Wish there was a connector for just a regular bicycle though - I think they would make a bunch of cash then.

Click to expand...

I'll second that. If there was a way to turn my iPod into a cycle-computer, it would be great. Keep track of all of my cardio in one place? Nice.

And I don't think it would be amazingly difficult to do - just a different sensor.

the future...

I'm just waiting for the ipod attachment that plugs into the bottom, with the little sticky electrodes you put on your chest, forearms, temples, etc, and cut out this whole nike nonsense altogether.

the iTrode.. the electrode kit for the iPod.

I just want the iPhone/Touch support for this stuff already.

I have thought they should do something like this for a long time, but it should include:

All iPods/iPhones with the dock connector, and
Video playback

If someone plugs his nano, for example, into the dock connector, allow the video out to show up on the huge LCD screens. Do I need to see a graphic of a track and flashing lights that mean nothing? No. The big screens are wasted.

Add the video playback to the workout tracking, and that is an awesome feature.

By the way, strangely (or not so much), I have never EVER seen a non-iPod at the gym. Not an iriver, not a zen, not a zune. Just iPods and iPhones.

Otaviano said:

I second that

Click to expand...

Thirded! I would definitely use the running and (when they are available) fitness equipment features with my iPhone. I'm certainly not going to go out and buy a nano just for that purpose. I thought the iPhone was the best iPod Apple has ever made...

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

Macsational said:

That's great news.

Wish there was a connector for just a regular bicycle though - I think they would make a bunch of cash then.

Now for the iPhone compatibility.....http://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/wink.gif

Click to expand...

second the bike idea, but the gym equipment is a great step.

good. but "revolutionise my cardio gymming"? no sorry, but I don't know when's the last time you get electronic chips in weight lifts and all that. running yes, but i dunno about the compatibility of the machines. will they be totally upgraded or a "plugin" for the machine i.e. treadmill?

i do like to see this happening soon but they should start lowering the price for gym fees and the ipod+nike chip - seriously, it doesn't cost much to make them. there's a virgin active just about 1km away from where i live, but it's too expensive O_O

also, why apple+nike... i've seen those 3rd party chips or DIY mod sticking the chip onto other-brand shoes. ca m'est egal.

This is cool news. Working out sucks without music, now it will be even easier. I hope Apple broadens their partnerships to include other sporting goods companies (Converse, Adidas, etc.). That would be awesome. I am glad to see that they have a lot of major exercise equipment companies on board, as well as a couple major gyms. Lets add more (Gold's, Powerhouse, LA Fitness, Curves, etc.) Apple!

Good to see. Not sure what the mark up is going to be but good to see.

What I would love to see is apple make the nike kit a little more greener and allow us to replace the battery. Bummed when I went to go jogging yesterday and the damn battery was dead, not interested in paying $40 for another one...

Everytime I see the Nike+ stuff in TSA (Sports Authority), I always want to buy it, I'm just using a simple shuffle but now I think I might invest

This announcement is timed at the start of the IHRSA show

This announcement is being made right before IHRSA 2008, the largest US trade show for health clubs. This is clearly the new thing that the big manufacturers (Precor, Life Fitness, True, etc.) have added to their line for their mainstream aerobic equipment.

The show opens Thursday in San Diego. I'll be there. Trade show only pass is $40.

Macsational said:

That's great news.

Wish there was a connector for just a regular bicycle though - I think they would make a bunch of cash then.

Click to expand...

I was just gonna ask the same… Where is the bike version? Running is not for everyone.

Macsational said:

...Now for the iPhone compatibility...

Click to expand...

I don't really see them doing that. The whole point of the nano (in my opinion) is that it is light enough and small enough (at least the last generation was) for runners. I don't think they would want to encourage people to run with their iPhones or iPod Touches, and then have people wanting replacements when they drop them.

I could be wrong about this, though. Do they have running accessories for the iPhone/iPod Touch (e.g. arm bands, etc...)?

iSamurai said:

i do like to see this happening soon but they should start lowering the price for gym fees and the ipod+nike chip - seriously, it doesn't cost much to make them. there's a virgin active just about 1km away from where i live, but it's too expensive O_O

also, why apple+nike... i've seen those 3rd party chips or DIY mod sticking the chip onto other-brand shoes. ca m'est egal.

Click to expand...

I'm a little lost....Apple doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the gym fees, and they shouldn't. It's none of their business. Are you telling me that $29 is too expensive for the Nike + system? Fer crying out loud, the website is FREE, and $29 is less than one night of beer and pizza!! My guess is that you haven't used it....if you have, you'd realize that $29 is a STEAL for what you're getting. Support among different shoe manufacturers, however, would be a plus (pun intended).

I have a Nike + and it's been an outstanding motivator to get me running....adding cardio equpiment support at my gym will motivate me to get in there more often too. A HUGE A+ for me all the way around!!

Why?

I don't get it. What makes sense about Nike+iPod in the first place? I mean, sure, it give nonvolatile storage for data, but what does this have to do with music?

IMHO, Garmin's ForeRunner series has the best shot in this market. They just need to start integrating with treadmills and the like, but look at the complaints here. Heartbeat monitoring? Covered (without sticky electrodes; you put a strap around your chest which transmits wirelessly to the watch). Unobtrusiveness? It's big for a watch, but it's hardly noticeable when you're working out. Bicycling? Buy the cadence sensor and it tracks that too. Indoors? there's a sensor you can put on your feet to track actual distance traveled when away from GPS coverage.

Garmin needs competition here. Their prices for equipment and parts are exorbitant, their Mac software sucks. Nike+iPod doesn't seem a viable contender, though. They seem like the poor-man's Garmin, without the GPS tracking (do you get an accurate speed reading, or is it based on step rate multiplied by pre-set distance per step?)