words // Brandon Richard
via Press Release
Nike's highly publicized 1.19.12 product announcement is the Nike+ FuelBand, an innovative wristband that tracks movement throughout the day and is designed to motivate and inspire users to be more active. Athletes at all levels of fitness now have a way to measure progress toward their goals with others.
“The NIKE+ FuelBand is a way for Nike to further evolve the exciting possibilities of merging the physical and digital worlds,” said NIKE, Inc. President & CEO Mark Parker at the NIKE+ FuelBand launch event in New York. “Nike has always been about inspiring athletes, and the NIKE+ FuelBand will help motivate them in a simple, fun and intuitive way.”
The ergonomic NIKE+ FuelBand captures and displays four different metrics: time, calories, steps and NikeFuel – a new metric that will be the ultimate measure of your athletic activity. NikeFuel is a proprietary technology that measures your activity through the movement of your wrist. As a result, athletes are motivated to do more with a NikeFuel score that makes movement fun, meaningful and comparable, allowing wearers to compete with athletes of all levels in most activities. More movement results in more NikeFuel, whether you're playing basketball, tossing a frisbee or going out for a run.
To engineer NikeFuel, Nike worked with some of the world's top experts in science and sports and developed a platform based on oxygen kinetics. Unlike calorie counting, which is based on gender and body type, NikeFuel is a normalized score that awards wearers equal scoring for the same activity regardless of physical stature. Users can also choose to also receive a calorie count to understand how many calories are burned versus how much NikeFuel is earned.
As you wear the FuelBand throughout the day, the built-in three-axis accelerometer measures your motion and translates it into NikeFuel. Each day you can set your goal for activity and the level of NikeFuel you want to achieve. As you move closer to your goal, the band’s series of 20 LED lights go from red to green. The user-friendly interface provides encouragement and motivation as you hit and exceed your goals.
The NIKE+ FuelBand experience doesn’t end on your wrist. All of the data you capture on your wristband connects to a rich web and mobile experience. It syncs with the Nike+ website, through a built-in USB, or wirelessly through Bluetooth to a free iPhone app to record activity each day and track progress.
To use Nike+ FuelBand, the following is needed:
- A Macintosh or PC with built-in USB. Mac OS v 10.4 or later, Windows 7 or Windows Vista (SP2) or Windows XP (SP2).
- Internet access. Broadband is recommended.
- Optional mobile app available in the iTunes App store; for updates on compatible mobile devices, visit Nikeplus.com.
The NIKE+ FuelBand will be available for pre-order starting January 19 in the U.S. at Nikestore.com for a suggested retail price of $149.
