How Nike Plus Became Nike Negative

I’ve been a fairly active runner over the past 2 years and in that time the Nike Plus App for the 3GS iPhone allowed me to track and measure my efforts. For those not in the know, Nike plus operates with a chip placed in your running shoe (Nike have created their own line in running shoes where you can place the chip under the inner sole) and like a pedometer, calculates the number of steps the person has taken during a run.

After each run the user would upload their run onto the Nike plus social website, and measure their efforts against other runners. The Nike plus site was genuinely rich with content, allowing users to customise their workout, create new goals and challenges and finally broadcast their efforts via Twitter and Facebook.

The web site, and the app were all tied into the well established Nike brand and incredibly polished and well thought out it was too. So what went wrong?

A couple of weeks ago I went out for a run and found that the Nike plus chip in my shoe no longer synced with my iPhone. No problem I thought, the chip probably ran out juice so I bought a new one. But again the chip was having the same problem syncing with the iPhone.

After digging around I found the answer, with the roll out of OS 4.0 for the iPhone earlier in the summer of 2010 the Nike plus chip was having a hard time syncing. Some users were having to reset their iPhones to get it to sync and if it did manage to sync, would incorrectly measure the distance ran.

Usually in the case a brand is experiencing difficulties, the first positive step is to quickly mitigate any negative opinions on the web by recognising the fault and provide timely updates until the issue is resolved. But in this instance Nike took over a week to communicate back to it’s user base. A week’s a long time in the blogosphere.

But Nike are not the only guilty party in all this. Complicit in this big bowl of wrong was Apple itself. There has been no official communication between Nike and Apple as to when the situation will be resolved.

What’s compounded the situation is that the Nike plus app has been removed from iTunes Store with no official stance taken by either company. Having reset my iPhone the app has no been deleted with no means of getting it back until Nike and Apple make it available again on the iTunes Store.

Update: I plead ignorance here as apparently the app was built into the iPhone. As per bfd’s instructions below I was able to get the app to re-appear by going into the iphone settings and switching Nike plus on.

The lesson from all this is when a digital brand has been carefully nurtured and is based upon user interaction and feedback it’s imperative to listen and respond swiftly.

To make matters worse, Adidas have capitalised on this situation by releasing their own running app called miCoach. I’m going to give this new app a try and I’m sure I won’t be the only Nike plus user.

Update: Part 2 of my post can be found here

tt twitter How Nike Plus Became Nike Negative

  • bfd

    I don’t think Nike+ app has ever been at the app store. It’s been built in to the system since the nano. That’s probably part of the problem, the low system level calls that are being made. The app was really the first one to allow a primitive multitask, since it allowed you to play music at the same time as the app was measuring your hoofbeets and time elapsed.

    Go to Settings, then scroll down to Nike + iPod, and flip the switch from off to on or vice versa. That should cause the app to either disappear or reappear.

    Maybe what you meant was that you wish you could reinstall the app from scratch, but you cant since it’s built into the system.

    By the way, the term is “to make matters worse”.

    Happy running and good luck getting a fix anytime soon. Apple seems more interested in fixing their antenna issues than bothering with an app, and Nike seems to be clueless about how to respond. The app is an Apple app that utilizes the Nike sensors.

    However, seeing that Nike has pretty much dedicated their entire lineup of shoes to the Nike+ branding, and built sensor notches into many of their shoes, they’d have a little more influence over Apple than a few dissatisfied customers.

    Classic case of ignorance on the part of both companies.

  • Tom E

    Thanks bfd for your comments. Kudos to you as I’ve managed to retrieve the app as per your instructions.

    I think the sentiment, regarding the lack of action taken on the part of Nike and Apple, is still valid. I agree that Apple probably have bigger issues to concern them, but surely Nike would have grasped the nettle on this as the Nike+ brand must worth a considerable amount.

  • Pingback: » How Nike Plus Became Nike Negative – Part 2

  • Thankful

    Thank you for your update. I upgraded to OS 4 and could not find my Nike +. Found it now thanks to the info. A Lifesaver.

  • Tom E

    No problem sundagerard. Glad my post was of help to you.

  • Charles Hubbard

    I encourage you to try all kinds of Adidas products. Why? Because NIKE is named after the pagan goddess Nike in the Paganism religion. Believe it or not… the Neo-Paganism religion is still alive today and people worship gods and goddesses. So consider your switch to Adidas a good thing… a move that pleases the Most High God.

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