Editor's note: Interesting development on Hedgeye Retail Sector Head Brian McGough's radar screen. For more information on McGough's research click here.
From the Wall Street Journal:
- "The Adidas watch will retail for $399 when it becomes available on Nov. 1. It includes GPS tracking technology, wrist-based heart monitoring, a Bluetooth-enabled music player, and use of Adidas’ live coaching service, miCoach."
- "Mr. Gaudio said the watch was developed for runners who don’t like the idea of bringing along their phone on runs, and who use that time to disconnect. Two key features of the watch are, in fact, components it doesn’t have: Unlike gadgets offered by Samsung and Nike which work in conjunction with smartphones, the miCoach Smart Run functions as a standalone product. Further, its heart rate monitoring is conducted on the wrist, eliminating the need for a traditional separate chest strap."
Takeaway: Nike currently has its Nike+ Sportswatch that it built 2-years ago in conjunction with TomTom. It has GPS, tracks cadence, laps, splits and has a solid alarm. All of that said, this Adidas watch appears to blow it out of the water. That said, Nike's sells for $169, and Adidas is $399. On a relative value basis, Nike still might come out ahead. Either way, expect NKE to up the ante on its product to beat Adidas -- and it will likely do so at the same sub $200 price.