Apple, once considered the hippest company around, has come under fire recently for beginning to look slow compared to competitors. Sure the iPhone and iPad have remained relatively the same since their initial releases, but there's an exciting prospect around the corner that everyone agrees Apple will be entering - wearable computing. A first small step? A wearable shoe sensor that will presumably communicate with Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad.
An Apple patent application titled "Shoe wear-out sensor, body-bar sensing system, unitless activity assessment and associated methods" has been spotted by the good folks over at Apple Insider. Apple describes how important shoes are for our feet, and how their degradation over time can reach a critical level where it may actually cause damage to one's feet.
The patent describes a three-component system: a sensor that will measure the shoe's current state, a processor to process the data, and a system to alert the wearer that it's time for a new pair. This, regardless of what it may seem like, is not Apple's plunge into the shoemaking business.
Instead, expect this kind of technology to work closely with sports and fitness-related apps to keep the user constantly up to date on whether he or she is receiving the maximum potential from a workout. Given Apple's history of making consumers buy into their ecosystem, it is highly unlikely that Apple will not market this in conjunction with an iPhone or iPod for fitness geeks. Presumably, the most obvious scenario is the sensor interrupting your "Eye of the Tiger" regime to have Siri whisper in your ear that you better go buy a new pair of shoes or you might just misalign your lower back.
When Apple will start mass producing this kind of accessory (or possible even a standalone device) is still up in the air. It's doubtul this will make it in time for the next wave of iPhones coming out in the first half of 2013, but it's not entirely out of the question to hit retail shelves for the second-holiday-season-wave of Apple products. Apple is making moves into wearable computing, including a rumored "iWatch" so it's not exactly science fiction at this point. We'll simply have to wait, if Apple can afford to.