Nike Inc. believes it has come up with the ultimate weapon in the ongoing battle to find a running shoe that is new and exciting and different.

Named Nike+iPod, the new shoes marry the best of the Nike running shoe and the iPod wireless system.  But analysts warn this shoe will appeal to nerds and nobody else.

The Nike Air Zoom Moire is photographed alongside an iPod and the Nike+iPod Sport Kit in New York Tuesday.
(Mary Altaffer/ Associated Press)

The new shoe is designed to send data about the athlete's running performance to an Apple computer using an iPod wireless system.

The secret to the new gadget is a special $29 US sensor in the Nike shoe. It allows techno-joggers to measure their times, distance, speed and the calories burned through the earphones of a nano iPod.

And, of course, Nike has come out with a line of fashionable clothing and accessories that allow the wearer to pocket their iPods and wires, untangled and out of sight.

The beauty of the new system, Nike says, is that iPods and jogging go together.

"We share the same types of consumers," said Trevor Edwards, Nike's vice-president of global brand management, adding that more than half of iPod owners already wear the music player while running. "We know that these two brands work really well together."

But analyst John Shanley of Susquehanna Financial Group poured cold water on the iPod running shoes. Marrying running shoes and iPods is an innovative idea, he told Reuters, but it does not appeal to Nike's demographic of teenage boys.

"Is it going to move the needle in terms of them selling more footwear?" Shanley asked. "Probably not."