Wearable technology is fast become a market everyone is interested in, with Samsung dropping the Galaxy Gear as the first prototype and Apple apparently developing the iWatch as the smartwatch running iOS.
Nike has made a huge market on the back of being the brand connecting all sports and fitness activities together, starting with clothing and moving onto Fuelband’s, accessories and working with partners to make sure they are everything to do with sport.
Adidas is trying to build this enterprise of fitness behind Nike and this is their first device to really show what they are capable of making. The Adidas smartwatch, named the MiCoach Smart Run, has fitness functionality, GPS and heart-rate sensors to make it a powerful fitness accessory.
The heart-rate sensor taps into a virtual trainer Adidas has installed on the smartwatch, when the heart-rate is low the trainer will say go faster, pushing the user to the limits. There is various functionality made to make training and exercising easier and make sure the user is pushing the limits on what they are capable of doing.
There is a lot of questions still regarding the MiCoach Smart Run, especially on the price. Adidas is preparing to sell the smartwatch at $350 or £300 in the UK, the same price as the Galaxy Gear and a lot lower than the $149 Nike Fuelband.
This is a really hard sell unless the user loves Adidas and wants to train on a watch, compared it to the Galaxy Gear, which is a hard sell as well, the Adidas has less functionality and social connections and we are still in the baby stage of smartwatches.
For anyone keeping up with the news, they will know Google, Nokia, Apple, Microsoft and a list of other powerful tech companies are looking at making a watch, one that will work better and offer more than the Adidas or Samsung watch.