Apple and Nike have had their Nike+Ipod sports kit for a while now, and have recently decided to kick it up a notch for us consumers. This new product, called "Smart Garment" is a gadget that, for lack of a better word, analyzes the clothing it is clipped onto. It analyzes the brand, and if the garment is not an approved, the device doesn't work.
"In this patent, Apple makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's essentially and attempt to enforce something like DRM on the pairing of clothing with technology". It is a scary thought to realize that a device could read the brand of your clothing and determine whether you wore the right outfit.
The reason behind this new gadget is what you would expect. The transmitter in the Nike+ shoes as of now, can be removed. Some people prefer their already worn in, comfortable sneakers, and just like to be able to track their run. The runners put the transmitter wherever else they can, like pouches or pockets, and clothing items that are not Nike+.TM. What Apple and Nike want to prevent are "thieves". They want the device to be used with ONLY Nike apparel, so that if the device was stolen from you, the thief would not be able to use it.
However, their is a little method to their madness. They are hoping to find a way to make it so the device can read the wear of your sneaker. "[I]n many cases, a runner will not notice that a running show has been worn down to the point where crucial support (arch, for example) has eroded thereby increasing the likelihood of injury." I say bravo if they succeed in this, because its always nice to have a heads up to broken ankles.
2 comments:
Strange. That makes me wonder what sort of reading technology is in the approved Nike clothes that allows the device to identify it. Is it just some sort of fabric? Or does the clothing have some sort of device in it? HMM! That's incredibly creepy.
This Nike + Apple shoe technology is giving us an insight into how technology will play a part in every part of our lives even our clothes. It is very exciting, but for now it just seems unwieldy and probably too expensive to be a very successful product. It also extends Apple's complete control over all their products and their efforts to market better. A marketing scheme for Nike as well.
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