It looks like Apple’s iTunes store wasn’t the only site to buckle under the pressure of increased holiday traffic. Nike’s Nikeplus.com, the site where Nike+iPod Sport Kit users upload their running data and track their progress, has been hit with slowdowns and service outages for the past couple of days. I didn’t write about it when I first noticed the issues, because every website bogs down from time to time, but now it’s clear that something more serious going on here.
A message was finally posted by Nike on the Nikeplus forums acknowledging the problem:
Due to increased traffic (we’re happy to see you are taking your New Year’s resolutions seriously!), we needed to temporarily shut down certain areas of the nikeplus site in order to make some changes and stabilize the platform for you. The site messages what areas are impacted. We apologize for the inconvenience but can assure you that your workout data is safe. So go for a run and revisit us shortly!
The problems are affecting just about every aspect of the site that requires personal running data, including uploading the data from you iPod nano and checking the status of your challenges and goals. The Nike+iPod widgets’ ability to display accurate data has also been affected.
This is a serious problem for Nike, and there’s really no excuse for it. Their website has been up and running since July, giving them plenty of time to work out the bugs and prepare for the server load of the post-holiday season. This will certainly impact future sales of the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, at least in the short term. With so many brand-new users getting such a bad Nike+iPod experience right out of the gate, there’s bound to be some bad word-of-mouth floating around.
Cross your fingers that Nike can work out these problems soon, without losing any of our precious running data.
You may also be interested in:
This explains why my Nike+ PHP script wasn’t working for a while. Seems to be OK now, but the servers weren’t authentication anything during the outage.
I do wish Nike hadn’t chosen to use a Flash interface for their website. The user experience is painfully slow (even on a fast connection!).
As a web developer myself, I can’t understand the reasoning behind such an unweildy and ponderous interface.
I’m persevering for the time being, but also uploading my workout info to another site to prevent any data loss.
Thanks for addressing this. I have been calling Nike and Apple since 1/02/07 when I first experienced the problem and no one copped to an answer. Either I was told to shut down and restart or try again later.
I am a new user and you’re right… I have begun directing people away from his debacle. Buy a $10 pedometer and listen to your iPod for now.
I know the original post was from a while ago, but I have not been able to access the site for 2-3 weeks (end of Feb, into March)… pretty frustrating…
How about the fact that Nike has taken down the original Nike+ website as of 12/8/09? The new NikeRunning.com website is a huge disappointment. The functionality is horrible, it’s incredibly non-intuitive, and we’ve lost some functions completely from the original site. It’s now incorporated with Nike.com so they’re focused on selling you Nike products, not helping you track your training and performance. A huge disservice. I think a Garmin Forerunner and Garmin’s awesome website is in my near future…