Adidas miCoach, News in the Fitness Trackers Market

Well, not really such big news actually. But maybe the fitness tracking market gets a bit more interesting with the latest Adidas move.  At Adidas they have introduced a new version of the their miCoach fitness tracker to turn into a real competitor to the Nike+ system. And this time the odds are that they may get a bit closer to their goal.

The first version of the miCoach system came out around two years ago and was supposed to be serious competition for the Nike+. But it had one major obstacle right in its conception to get a good piece of the cake: the system only worked with a Samsung/Adidas cell phone (watch a review of how it worked right here). Thus, you needed to buy that particular phone to make the stride sensor and hrm to work. Nike also teamed up with a tech brand, but obviously the popularity of Apple gadgets was simply unbeatable.

But on this new version of the miCoach they got rid of the cell phone and substituted with an ”audio feedback” unit. Both the pedometer and the hrm will send data to this unit that can be later uploaded to the miCoach website. The unit also acts as an “audio coach” to aid in keeping track of your workouts. It works like this: you first get the hardware, then set your goals on the website www.micoach.com, sync up the MiCoach Pacer and you’re ready for a run. The unit will then track your stats and give real time audio feedback. You can use the unit on its own or plug it between your favourite mp3 player and the earphones, so you can listen to your favorite music or podcasts while you get the feedback of your performance (a bit like the deceased Motionlingo ADEO but without the GPS).

The Adidas miCoach will run you between $70 and $140, compared to the #30 of the Nike+ (but with a few more options). Let’s hope it will shake the fitness tracking market a little bit and force Nike to improve their product.