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Posts Tagged ‘Nike+’

Rise of Under Armour

November 1st, 2011

You think about Nike when you heard about ‘Just Do It‘.

The same with Adidas with ‘Impossible is Nothing‘.

Nike and Adidas has become strong brands in the sportswear industry.

These two brands are so popular that they do not need introduction anymore.

However, recently Fortune magazine reported that the popularity of a new kid on the block – Under Amour is on the rise.

To tell the truth, I have no idea that Under Amour is popular at all. This is not so surprising if you know that it was only founded in the year 1996, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America. It didn’t go worldwide until a decade later in 2006.

Its startup story is interesting though. Under Armour was founded by Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland special teams captain for the university football team. The business began from Plank’s grandmother’s basement in Washington, DC.
Every other interesting business now starts from a garage or a basement, don’t they? If you’re starting in a luxury office, you might want to move elsewhere. 😉

The growth in the early years was due to his intelligent marketing (or luck to everyone else) to the universities where sports teams get team gears.

Under Armour has a long way to go to match Nike’s global reach. Just 6% of revenue comes from abroad, compared with over 60% for Nike. Under Armour has done well in Japan but is barely present in growth areas like China, Brazil, and India. And in footwear, which UA entered in 2006, shoes make up 12% of revenue, but just 1% of the $14 billion U.S. athletic footwear pie, says SGI. Nike’s share is over 42%; Adidas Group’s, 11%.

Source: Fortune

It looks like Under Armour is definitely under watch now. 🙂

Under Armour’s website.

business, Good To Know , , ,

Nike+ with iPod or iPhone4

November 9th, 2010

One cool factor of having an iPod or iPhone and if you enjoy running with Nike shoes is the fact that both Apple and Nike have a product that can help with your running.



Nike + iPod Sport Kit
is sold in Apple Stores and Nike Stores.

The sport kit comes with a sensor to place in your shoe and another receiver to be plugged to your iPod nano (not iPod shuffle or any other iPods).

For this to work, you need to have a pair of Nike+ shoes as well. Unfortunately, normal Nike shoes wouldn’t work. Hackinike might work though. 🙂

That’s because underneath the inner sole of the left shoe, there’s a special compartment for you to place the sensor. (Ha, that’s how you gonna hack your normal Nike, make it Nike+).

It’ll fit nicely, just remove the existing rubber from the compartment.

For iPhones or iPod Touch, you do not need the receiver at all, as it is already built into the device by default.

The Nike + iPod app is built-in in the Apple devices that are compatible, so all you need to do is just launch it.
I tested the sport kit with iPhone 4, so the screenshots are from iPhone 4’s app.


On your first use, you will be asked to calibrate the sensor by putting in your weight.


Walk around to activate the sensor’s communication. (The sensor is turned on by default, you can turned it off if you’d like to conserve its battery.)

While working out, you can opt to play songs from your device as well.

This is the locked-screen.

On your work-out completion, you will be shown a summary of the workout statistics.

Work out data can be sent to Nike.com and stored online too.

Summary of last run from http://nikerunning.nike.com
The history of runs and statistics all available in a glance.

You can even set your goals in the website.

List of runs by date.

You can even compete with friends or other runners.

Or get a pro trainer from Nike. 🙂

Besides storing your workout history in your device, in Nike’s website, you can also sync it with iTunes on your computer.

On iPhone 4, you can actually track your run more accurately by having GPS tracking. This will however, require another app that you need to purchase from Apple App Store.
Yes, you already paid for the hardware and GPS was built into it, now BUY the software. 🙂

For more info of the Nike + iPod Sport kit:
Nike + iPod Frequently Asked Questions (Technical)

Gadgets, Hardware, Review, Software , , , , , , ,