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’. Who is the fastest person on a team? Who jumps the highest? Is that player jumping higher now than he or she was a month prior? Does one player’s energy drop off mid-game, and pick up at the end? All of this can be determined with the Nike+ Basketball system.
The app’s coolest feature is its “showcase” mode, which allows users to record video of their movements as well as superimpose their speed and jump height data onto the video, which they can then share with their friends.
Nike+ Training
A promotional video for Nike+ Training.
Inspiration is the key to the Nike+ Training program. The app contains a video library of short workouts in three difficulty ranges — beginner, intermediate and advanced — led by some of the world’s best-recognized athletes: tennis player Rafa Nadal, boxer Manny Pacquiao, track and field athlete Allyson Felix and soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo. Users can set up a program based on skill level, or choose individual workouts from the library. Ten athletes have already signed on to produce videos, and more will be added over time.
Accompanied with the Nike+ Training shoes — called the Lunar Hyperworkout+ for Women and the Lunar TR 1+ for men — users will be able to determine how well they’re keeping up with a workout and how they progress over time. Because the shoes can only measure distance, height and steps over time, the range of workouts is limited. Users won’t be tasked to do push-ups or sit-ups, for instance, because the shoes can’t record the necessary data about them. Thus, most of the workouts will involve legwork.
The Training app will also be useful to those who aren’t willing to fork over the as-yet-unannounced cost of the shoes. They can still follow along with the videos — the app will be free to download on June 29 — although they won’t be able to record their data.
Evolution
Nike+ Basketball and Nike+ Training are welcome and impressive additions to the evolving Nike+ ecosystem, though I can’t help wishing, six years after its launch, that Nike+ had evolved further by now — that it was the center for all of my health data.
I want a system where I can store and dive into all of my wellness information, understanding how my sleep patterns affect my running performance, for instance, and how increasing my workout intensity or protein intake alters my weight. All of that could be achieved by allowing for manual input of that data in Nike+, or through a more elaborate set of Nike+-connected products — think watches that record sleep times, and scales that record weight and send it back to Nike+ — that would track some of the information manually. We’re certainly getting there, but not quite as fast as I’d like!
If you’re a Nike+ user, we’d love to hear what you think of the new products, and what features you’d most like to see from Nike+ going forward.
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