Apple unveiled a Nike+ edition of the Apple Series 2 Watch today at its annual Fall event. The Nike+ version of the Watch will roll out late October for $369 and is, of course, built for runners.
Nike introduced its Nike+ Fuelband activity tracker – one of the very first activity bands in the “quantified self” movement to the U.S. market four years back. The band calculated activities using something called “Fuel” instead of calories burned. However, the company found itself in an increasingly crowded market for its product when competitors like Jawbone Up, Fitbit and finally the Apple Watch came onto the scene.
The first Apple Watch focused heavily on fitness, including many health apps in its offerings as well as calories burned and mileage and step tracking and Nike has already partnered with the tech giant in the first iteration.
Now Apple has added several new features with the athlete in mind, including water resistance for swimming, built-in GPS, and a brighter display for daytime activities.
The Nike+ edition is built to encourage runners to get out and hit the road. It will automatically start a run when you tap the “Start” button and sends “Are we running today?” alerts to try and motivate you to run.
The device comes in four colors, which all seem to be shades of black and gray, and starts a run for you automatically when you tap “Start” — or tell Siri to start a run for you.