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Nike+ Experience

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image from knowyourmobile.com

I’ve been a runner and Nike+ user for a littler over a year. I’ve always been a fan of the simple interface, and great accuracy. I also always seem to listen to music while I run, which made carrying my iPhone a no-brainer for me. All I had to do was slap my phone on my arm, plug in my headphones, start the app, and go. Nike took things from there. Great!

I recently had the opportunity to try out the Nike+ Sportswatch. I’m very intrigued by wearable technology, and wondered how the experience might be different from carrying my iPhone around. I can probably sum it up in one word. Freedom.

The Nike+ Sportswatch allowed me to focus on my run. I didn’t have my phone bolted onto my arm. I didn’t worry about music. I just ran. And when I wanted some metrics about my run, like my current pace or distance, it was a simple glance down at my wrist. Easy. Awesome. Free. It felt really light. Like running for the first time. There was no real burden of gear, nothing to weigh me down, nothing for me to worry about. It was really a great experience.

image from Nike+

All except for setting it up, waiting for the damn thing to get a GPS signal, not being sure if it was accurately tracking my distance (it really did seem off), syncing back up to Nike+.com, and then seeing two different tweets with two different metrics posted about my run (one of which I authorized).

I’m not going to talk about the out-of-box experience, because I didn’t really try this right out of the box. But I did have to download software, plug in the watch to my computer (great industrial design for the usb connector though!), reset the watch to factory settings (I’m just borrowing it), connect it to my Nike+ account, and finally unplug it from my computer and go. I’m not going to talk about that experience.

And I’m not going to talk about how long it took for the watch to get a GPS signal. With me standing on the street looking like an idiot. With people gawking at my wondering what the hell I’m doing standing around for instead of running. I’m not going to talk about that hell, and I’m not going to talk about the distance being off, or having to plug the watch into my computer to sync it all back up.

The Details Matter!

What I would like to quickly say (although it’s not really quick now, sorry). Is that the entire experience changed for me (please, please listen up Nike), when I saw two different tweets sent out about my run.

The first, I didn’t authorize. Not in any way that I can remember anyway.

A little bit later I opened the Nike+ app on my phone to sync the data I just uploaded to the Nike+ site back down to my phone, where I mostly interact with Nike+ (and I’m not the only one Nike). This one I did authorize, because I sent the information off to Path as well.

First off, why did Nike send the first tweet? I never authorized that to be shared. I also never authorized Nike to send my GPS data. Not that I’m really worried about people seeing where I ran and other metrics, but I never authorized that private data to be sent.

Second, why did the first tweet mention the sportswatch and the second did not? I can see why Nike would default to adding that information as it’s great product placement and advertising for free, but why not include it in the second? I’m confused here.

Third, why do the two tweets seem to have different metrics and information? That’s really confusing. I doubled checked the links (you can as well), and the metrics seem to be the same. I really don’t know what is happening here. Let me know if you do. Also, why does the second tweet have “/mi” included while the first does not? What is the messaging here?

So, one small interaction, one tiny detail changed my entire Nike+ experience. Please take note, the details matter. They matter a lot!

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