As we teased just the other day, Nike will in fact be selling a Nike+ SportBand—complete with the familiar shoe pebble, not shown—for training without the iPod nano. “Heavens! Why would you ever want to train without an iPod nano?” you ask, aghast. According to my runner friend Rid, who shunned the original Nike+ iPod like it was some kind of performance-enhancing drug, there are good reasons.
We found this official teaser for the Nike+ SportBand on the Nike site, leading us to believe (you know, if Nike isn’t lying) that the kit is coming next week. It’s great for people who don’t really need iPods when running but still want the ability to track and display your progress. However, that means Nike could be leaning away from the iPod integration and getting more money in their own pockets instead of sharing with Apple. [Shiny Shiny]
MacLife.de says Nike’s SportBand, an armband that connects to the Nike+ running device, might be finally coming to retail some time in April 2008. The armband will still be wireless and still require you to shove a Nike+ kit into your shoe in order to track how fast/far you run, but you won’t have to carry an iPod Nano on you, which lowers the chance of muggings (but raises the chance of being bored while running). Once you’re done with your workout, take out the attached USB stick and plug it into your computer to sync data with nike.com. [MacLife]
Nike + iPod is great for running, not so great for most other stuff in the gym. So, Nike and Apple are teaming up with most of the major gym equipment makers—Life Fitness, Precor, Star Trac and Technogym—to make their cardio equipment Nike + iPod-friendly. You’ll be able to track workouts on stair steppers, ellipticals, bikes and treadmills and upload them to NikePlus.com, like the standard Nike + iPod. Of course, this all requires to your gym to either buy new equipment or upgrade what they’ve got, so you might have to wait a while to get on board. [AppleInsider]
The next iteration of the Nike+ line of running-enhancing gear just hit the FCC, and it looks like Nike went ahead and ditched Apple for this go around. This one is the Nike SportBand, a little device that fits into a bracelet. It communicates with the Nike+ doodad in your shoe and stores its data. You then plug the SportBand into your computer via USB to track your runs, cutting the iPod out of the loop entirely. As a sedentary blogger, I could care less about this, but perhaps you “healthy” and “active” people can get some kicks out of it. [FCC]
The Gadget: Belkin Sport Armband Plus. It’s Belkin’s newest iPod armband for exercising (we tested with 3G Nano).
The Price: $29.99
The Verdict: We’re quite happy after a week of use with the Sport Armband Plus. Constructed of a high quality, wet suitesque material, the band sticks well to your skin—but absolutely perfectly after a few minutes of working out.
