Is Nike Developing a Smart Shoe in 2016

There is no doubting that technology is taking over a good part of each and everyone’s lives, and that trend is set to continue into 2016. Nike was last week granted a patent that allows for a fitness tracker to be put within the sole of a shoe.

“The idea, according to patent application documents, would be to transmit running data from the shoe to a mobile device in order to allow a runner to “fully critique his or her performance”.

It’s not entirely clear from the documents whether the shoe would be functionally any different from wearing a Fitbit on your ankle, but — since the patent is primarily concerned with the manner in which information is collected and displayed — the shoe could conceivably collect finer information than the speed, distance, direction, altitude and steps measured by other trackers.”

A shoe like this is likely to bump up the already expensive price tag that comes with purchasing running shoes. Will this really ever be a viable option from Nike?