Nike+ Running is lots of money, bad UX?

Take a look at "Nike+ Running"


So the other day the Nike+ app finally dropped for the masses of Android users out there (ignoring those lucky guys on O2 who got it last year) and the excitement is paramount. Track your own run, share it with friends, get a detailed breakdown of the exercise and receive encouragement from friends whilst running. But there is one little hurdle that I find difficult to sing the praises of; the first time experience.

The key elements of Innovation Diffusion (how well ideas spread through society) are:

  1. Relative Advantage
  2. Compatibility
  3. Complexity
  4. Trialability
  5. Observability
Now, the one point I am having a slight gripe on is trialability. When you open the app for the first time, it asks you to sign in. This is a hurdle to get over, a barrier to snooping around the app that when you think about it, doesn't need to be there. Sure, the advantages to having every single action undertaken within the app should be obvious to anyone who works in user experience. But couldn't key features just be locked down until the user signs up, thus allowing a good exploration of the app without the need to spend time and finger tapping space signing up yet another service? 

What could the outcomes of this be? If you like the app, then it is time well spent and you get running along your merry way without delay, no problem. But if your ambivalent about the app, or don't like it, then what is your take away experience? Wasted time and negative. While what factors influence the memory recall of a person is a highly complex psychological issue, I cannot imagine this bad taste will help the person remember the app fondly and share the app with their friends. Remember of course that informal/ social conduits of information are often more powerful than official ones.

To be fair, there is a shining light of the ominous 'Facebook Login' button. Usually, this is a lifeline, letting the person get strait into the app using there facebook as a key. Unfortunately that key is blunted here as after you have authorised the app on the website, you are directed back to the standard signup page. If anything, this is more work. Not exactly the shortcut expected.

So what should be taken away from all of this? In this whole post I have not even began to mention the actual app interface or experience, but instead, highlighted how something as simple as a login screen can produce a bad experience that echo past the short time touching the app. I am sure that the Nike brand is actually strong enough to overcome all issues here, motivating the user to  push through all obstacles and fully embrace their work. But would this be the case with a startup? I doubt it? In their case, their only choice would be to produce an outstanding experience coming from every part of the app, or face failure.

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