Nike Amp+?

November 27, 2006

It looks like a new Nike iPod product is due to be released soon, according to tuaw.com:

The Nike Amp+ is a wrist band which communicates with your iPod (with Bluetooth, I assume) so that you can start, stop, and browse your tunes. That's not all! It also talks to the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, so you can access information about your run without having to take out your iPod.

As far as I know the Nike+iPod kit has been extremely successful since its release last summer, so it makes sense that Nike would continue to cash in on its success with new products, as well as address some of its shortcomings. ((The official Nike armband for the Nike+iPod kit completely covers your iPod’s screen, making it impossible to do anything other than skip or pause songs without taking it out of the case. Although the iPod Nano’s screen is small enough that you can’t really use it while running anyway.)) I still haven’t really used my Nike+iPod, apart from taking it out for a few laps to see how it works. When you’re running a set course where you already know the distance, the standard iPod stopwatch seems to do a good job on its own. I can see myself using it more and more once products like the Amp+ come out though, I love seeing technology integrated into something “low tech” like running.

Marc Charbonneau is a mobile software engineer in Portland, OR. Want to reply to this article? Get in touch on Twitter @mbcharbonneau.