Samsung and adidas to Take on Apple and Nike

Samsung and adidas establish a partnership to create miCoach, a real-time training system that, according to the duo, is designed to motivate, inspire and enable athletes at all levels to reach their unique training goals. The miCoach system - which will rival the Nike+iPod sportkit brought to us in 2006 from Apple and Nike - contains five components that provide personalized audible feedback: the miCoach Samsung phone, a heart rate monitor, a stride sensor chip to fit all adidas running footwear, compatible adidas apparel as well as the miCoach Web site to create tailored training programs. Research and development for miCoach began over two years ago between the adidas Innovation Team and Samsung, with the objective of creating an advanced and customizable training product. The Athletes' Performance Institute (API), a training and sport research center based at Arizona State University, concluded that miCoach is like having your own personal coach with you on every run; a coach who knows exactly what you want to accomplish and exactly how to help you get there.