Apple Thoughts: Apple Smart Bike Patent Application

"Patently Apple does a great job explaining Apple's latest interesting patents and today the "Smart Bike" and Mall app have come upon us. The Smart Bike seems like the most interesting bicycle ever, a techie-bicyclist's dream. It will use the various sensors in the bike and iPhone to measure things like altitude, speed, power, heart rate, path distances, and several more."

Apple has applied for a patent for a concept that they're calling Smart Bike (or Smart Bicycle). Using a variety of sensors, links, software, communication, and of course an iPod or iPhone, Smart Bike can display not only information on the bike itself, but information on the rider. In addition, groups of riders can share all the reported information, so imagine a Tour De France team all linked with this gear: "Steve, your heart rate is down, pick it up!" or "Team, there is a 20km per hour headwind, and your heart rate needs to increase to climb the next hills." The underlying story states that this technology is expensive, and probably not for the casual or even semi-serious cyclist, but could be applied to other modes of transportation. As we've seen, costs drop as technology is adopted, so we can probably expect to see this offered on all bicycles sometime in the near future.