Monday, October 12, 2009

My frustration with Nike+, RunKeeper is superior

I just read Terry White's post Nike+iPhone - (Nike+) Shoes = Flexibility, and it reminded me how negative an experience I have had with Nike on this product.  Like Terry, I am a huge Nike fan and have been loyal to them my entire life.  Here is my frustration.

When I made a decision to get back into running, I looked for a solution to track my runs.  I found Nike+, yet it wasn't compatible to the existing iPhone (Original, version 1).  I contacted Nike by email and Apple to inquire about when the Nike+ would be compatible with the iPhone.  The response I received was that Apple did not recommend running with the iPhone due to the hard drive, and it recommended using the Nano.  Not the response I wanted, but I trusted the advice and figured that this option would never be developed.

So, far Christmas, I received a Nano, Nike+, and Nike+ Shoes.  Add it up, it's over $300 worth of merchandise.  Shortly after, the iPhone 3G came out with GPS and my wife purchased it for herself.  With this phone, I then located Runkeeper, which is a GPS based iPhone application which tracks your run.  It does everything from tracking your pace, location and elevation.  This is a great app, and at a great price.

So here I am, with my 1st Generation iPhone and Nano + Nike+ system.  Then Apple announces newer iPhones will work with Nike+.  While the Nike+ has worked well for me and is a good (not the best) product, I haven't been happy with the communication and product release process for Nike and Apple.

When it's time for me to get a new phone, it will definitely be the newest generation of iPhone, but I will be switching away from using Nike+ and will use Runkeeper due to far superior fitness tracking.  By the way, my next shoes will be Nikes.

Disclosure: I have not received any compensation for any product mentions in this post (does that cover my necessary disclosure?  Who knows?)

2 comments:

  1. I'd also try out Cadence app . It matches music from your iTunes library to the speed you are running at. Good motivator and pace keeper.

    http://www.cadenceapp.com

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  2. Thanks Cadence, I'll definitely check out www.cadenceapp.com DG

    ReplyDelete