Nike Unveils Nike+ for Basketball and Workout Training
Nike+ is no longer for runners only.
At an event in New York City Wednesday, Nike unveiled a line of digitally connected footwear — some designed for basketball, others for more general workouts — that records data about the wearer and syncs it to accompanying Nike+ Basketball and Nike+ Training apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and web.
The shoes are embedded with four pressure sensors and an accelerometer that can record distance, number of steps and jump height over time. The information used to help athletes better track their activity levels through the course of a workout or basketball game and, if they wish, compare it to others’ data.
The new footwear and apps will be available in retail locations and in the App Store, respectively, in the U.S., UK, France, Germany and mainland China on June 29.
Nike+ was first launched six years ago as a set of running products — shoes, a watch, an armband, a custom iPod nano, as well as apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and the web — that enables users to set goals, record their runs and progress, and compete for virtual badges and against their friends. More recently, the company released a fuel band that records the wearer’s total number of steps and time, and calculates speed and calories burnt in the process. More than 6 million people are apart of the Nike+ ecosystem, according to the company’s own estimates.
Nike+ Basketball
A promotional video for Nike+ Basketball.
Above all, Nike+ Basketball is designed to help users improve their basketball game. The shoes — the first of which is called the Nike Hyperdunk+, and will be worn by LeBron James this summer — measure how high, how hard and how quickly the wearer plays over time, and transmits that data wirelessly to his or her iPhone or iPod touch.
Players can then use the accompanying app to better understand their own game and, should other players have the app as well, compare their playing ability to others’. (...)
