Is Nike+ worth the hype?

It has been recently reported that Nike’s income has taken a sharp plunge in the recent months, and analysts believe that it is due to high product costs.  With the 2012 Summer Olympics on the horizon, Nike plans on releasing Nike+ technology equipped basketball and training shoes, which will give athletes information about their performance straight to their phone.  Nike hopes that sales will rise considering that many of the top athletes in the world will be wearing their high-tech products under the watchful eyes of millions of people around the world.  The question is, is Nike’s targeted market of consumers willing to shell out hundreds of dollars just so that they can track their progress through their phone?

As someone who exercises 5-6 days a week, I think it would be nice to be able to know on the spot how fast I ran or how high I jumped, but it really isn’t something that I would consider a necessity.  With Nike Hyperdunk basketball shoes already costing upwards of $130 dollars, I don’t think many people will have the disposable income to be purchasing high tech shoes for an even higher price.  It will be interesting to see how the product life cycle for Nike+ develops within the next few months.  Right now, Nike is the only company who has a high tech shoe ready to go, so they will be the one that sets the market for this particular type of product.  I know Adidas will be coming out with a similar product soon, so we’ll find out how their introduction stage compares to Nike’s, and then we’ll see how they compare in the growth stage as well.  Maybe I’ll change my mind about Nike+ in the future but right now, I’m pretty content with wearing shoes that don’t have chips inside of them.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06-28/nike-4q-net-income-falls-on-high-costs

 

7 thoughts on “Is Nike+ worth the hype?

  1. I agree. Although I am not too into sports, working out, or anything of the sort, I always buy my brother his sneakers. And with him being younger his foot constantly grows. So buying shoes sometimes becomes a hassle because they are expensive sometimes. I always get him Nike and Jordans. The price they are at right now already seems a bit pricey to me, so raising the price just to track progress doesn’t seem that great to me. If it was a low cost then it may be worth. Otherwise I feel the only market the companies would have a chance with are true athletes.

  2. This is the first time I ever heard of the Nike+. I really like what they are trying to do but I feel that this will be a product that will give profit in the short run because consumers will get in the HYPE of it since Nike is being an innovator to this product but then it will be old news in the long run. This is the first I heard of a Shoe giving your tracked results BUT this isn’t the first product that allows consumers to track progress. I assume this is going to be a really expensive product and there are lots of other products that sell for a much cheaper price and still gives the same results. I just wonder if this shoe would come with a “insurance plan”, silly to say but if you are paying a high price for a shoe that has some kind of technology in it then what happens if TRACKING system doesn’t work or malfunctions…

  3. This is a good example of Nike trying to innovate in a high tech world. The actual sensing device the Nike will be embedding in their basketball shoes is a low cost sensor. Nike is then able to up sell this device by integrating it into a shoe with huge margins. Nike is able to take what can be considered a commodity type item and differentiate it from its competitors in a way that adds significant value. They can further add value through integration into iPhone and Android apps that provide real time data to the user.

  4. This is a good example of the new thing that the big companies are doing to help athletes and people that like to work out and keep track of their progress of their progress. I believe this product will be big in the market because basketball is a big sport i america and getting bigger, it is also becoming more and more popular in the international countries also.

  5. Nike is already so over priced, in my opinion, but I think they have some great products. I always feel so stupid shelling out $100+ on a pair of shoes I know will only last me about a year before I see some other pair that I want, but I have to say, Nike+ seems like a good idea. I think as long as the product/program included some sort of logging so I could track my work outs, I would buy it. I think it would give even the beginner-exercisers (like me)more opportunities to improve the workout and continue to progress.

  6. I am not really a big fan of any of the new products Nike has come out with and has announced they will come out with. They are way over priced and they are not for the everyday consumer.

  7. Nike+ is awesome! I am a big fan of the Nike Fuelband, their recently released fitness tracking device that tracks calories, steps and Nike “fuel” burned throughout the day. It syncs with my iPhone, and tracks my exercise over days/weeks/months, allowing me to spot trends and make improvements. I think Nike is trying to adapt and innovate to a changing consumer base, and the Fuelband and integration of Nike+ technology into all of their products is a great idea.

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