In collaboration with Apple, Nike, manufacturer of products for sport, produced “smart” series of Nike+ shoes with a sensor which is able to measure a covered distance. Nike+ iPod Sports Kit includes a system to connect shoes Nike+ and the iPod player. A special receiver is connected to the player, which communicate with sneakers through the wireless channel. As a result, the player screen indicates the the information about covered distance, elapsed time and burned calories.

In the future, Nike will produce sports jackets and shorts with special pockets for wearing iPod. In the meantime, iTunes Music Store integrated a special section of Nike Sport Music. Owners of Nike+ iPod Sport Kit can publish their sporting achievements in online diaries (blogs) on Nike Plus website.

Nike+ iPod Sport Kit is available in the U.S. at a cost of about 30$.

Note that for Nike it is not the first experience with electronics manufacturer. Last year Nike Company produced sports MP3 player Nike Philips.

Nike+ Sport Kit, released two years ago with digital players Apple iPod Nano, has finally been improved to the extent that it can be used with the iPhone and iPod touch.

Mark Wilson first said about this update to Stuff.tv, who discovered it during a Nike tour of the company headquarters in Oregon, during which he also managed to test different types of sport shoes, which manufacturer made specifically for the 32 Summer Olympic Games.

«The first news is that Nike + will enhance compatibility with the iPod Nano to the iPhone and iPod Touch, - he writes. - There is no surprise, but the interesting part and advantage, now both devices can be compatible with Wi-Fi (but for the iPhone, this means even more: a 3G – option) that allows on the way to change the list of songs for training ».

For existing Nike+, you should first connect your iPod Nano to a Mac or PC, download iTunes, and then visit the Nike+ website. With the new applications written for the iPhone and iPod Touch - probably using Apple iPhone SDK - users will be able to pass information through wireless directly to the web site.

With wireless function, it can be synchronized with Nike + Coach - a new option that appeared on the website Nike +. It creates a sense of working with a personal trainer on an individual schedule, based on programs Sport Kit: 5km, 10km, half or full marathon.

Released in May 2006, a $30 Nike Plus iPod Sport Kit for iPod Nano immediately won a huge success. In less than 90 days it has been sold more than 450 000 copies. Until today, it is believed that Nike and Apple have already sold over a million copies.

In fact, the response was so impressive that by early 2007, Nike sold more than 3 million Nike sport shoes compatible with Nike+. Thus, by the end of 2007, each pair of Nike running shoes supported this iPod technology.

Whatever the success, recently some presentations raised the question as at what speed Nike + iPod would move forward. In October, for example, Nike and Apple have become target of accusations concerning this technology.

In 8-pages complaint a sportswear company from Utah reported that it had patented similar technology in 1998 and then, after two years, told about this license to Nike. According to the lawsuit, a manufacturer actively denied interest in it at that moment to market a similar concept of Nike+ six years later.

Until now the biggest threat to the technology was Apple itself, which is busy developing a fully functioning digital sports coach, which is much richer in options than Nike+.

To learn more about Nike Plus visit: http://www.nike.com/nikeplus