Nike+

There are people out there doing really cool things. That was supposed to be our motivation while I was in college. It was supposed to drive us to better ourselves… to face the competition and accelerate our own game.

There were a lot of times when I didn't accept it as a true statement. I often would think that for every cool thing being created, there was a exponentially high number of uncool things being produced—especially in advertising.

Today is one of those days when my pessimism is flipped on it's head, because today is the day I discovered the new partnership between Nike and Apple. They have come together to mold two products into one great idea.

They took Nike's passion for running and Apple's passion for music and created the Nike+Apple Sport Kit. The sport kit allows you to set up, track, and motivate your runs, by providing you with real time audio feedback of your progress during your run, syncing for tracking your progress over time and integrated music playlists to help motivate you along the way.

The idea is genius because it is simple and it's derived from the observation of what was naturally happening in the culture of both industries. People who run were buying iPods. They'd strap the to their arms and go out pumped up.

Apple and Nike came together to see the value in making a deeper commitment to the products for runners.

Give them the ability to track their progress. Give them specific music for their workout. Give them a community online to share in their accomplishments. Those are gifts that these types of consumers will snatch up.

The Nike shoes, designed to take the transmitter (pedometer) cost $100, and the pedometer and receiver for your iPod are $29. Not bad for what you're getting. There's also apparel, like shirts with nano pockets.

The shoes themselves are a bit understated for Nike. They actually look like simply a basic running shoe, black for men, grey for women. I'm excited to see what new designs they'll create with compatibility.

I'm guessing that the transmitter that plugs into your nano's dock connection is a bluetooth gadget, but they don't say on either Apple or Nike's site. I'm also wondering if it only works with the nano, or if it will work with fifth generation, video iPods as well. The 5th gen iPods aren't as comfortable or reliable to work out with in the long run, but there's no reason they can't be used for exercise.

Overall, this is a killer idea and it really gets me excited to go out and run. It's definitely proof-positive that people are out there thinking and creating worth-while stuff. I wonder who came to the table with the idea first, Nike or Apple?