A few years ago, Nike launched NikeID - a website that would let you build custom versions of Nike trainers. You could select the style, the colour scheme, some detailing and last of all a short name to be stitched on the back of your new shoe.
This proved to be popular (despite costing quite a bit over the odds) although it did hit a bit of a hiccup when some wag tried to get them to make a custom pair of Nike ‘Sweatshop’. As the saying goes, it’s all fun and games until someone accuses you of unethical business practice via satirical footwear.
Anyway, things have moved on and Nike has updated the service to allow the use of MMS messages as input into the colour selection bit.
It’s a bit like that paint advert where people take random coloured objects into B&Q to get them to mix up a custom can of gloss. If you spot a nice colour scheme (in the advert, Nike suggest using a grafitti ‘tag’ but you can choose someting less ’street’ if you prefer) just snap it with your phonecam and MMS it off to Nike. They will extract a colour scheme from the image and you can import that scheme into their trainer customiser.
Obviously, it helps if you take photos of things with a limited colour palatte to begin with, but if you have lots of spare cash and fancy a unique pair of shoes, have at it.
For some iPhone owners, the only way it’d have an impact on their fitness levels is if they had to chase after a mugger who’s just nicked it. However, others are more sporty - and it’s they who’ll be celebrating the news that Nike plans to release its Nike+ fitness tracker application for iPhone and iPod Touch.
