Apple 'Smart Garment' Patent To Perk Up Nike+iPod

Apple is moving to improve its althletic monitoring products with Nike by prepaing improved iPod-compatible footwear, according to p proposed U.S. patent revealed this week. A so-called smart garment listing on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site suggests the two companies are working on electronic sensors placed under the inner sole of Nike running shoes that would interoperate with Apple products like the iPod. The submission suggest that runners can figuratively listen to their shoes and learn how to improve thier running style and compare theier times with other runners based on various physical traits, including wieght, age, and gender. A user could gauge his or her own athletic prowess and abilities against an accepted reference and be able to determine, for example, the performance percentile he or she falls in particular cohort of runners, Apples said in the patent filling. " In addition, ith would be beneficial to be able to correlate a user's performance to tracking shoe characteristics such as wear over time or distance used.