Going over Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) quarterly earnings from yesterday, one thing in particular stuck with me. No, it wasn't the 8% growth in profit to $325.6 million or $1.28 per share when analysts had expected $1.13 per share, nor the 10% growth in sales to $3.82 billion when analysts had expected $3.76 billion.

What I found intriguing, in fact, was CEO Mark Parker remark about the recently launched Nike line of shoes and accessories that works with Apple Computer Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPod music player. This line, according to Parker, was "turning out to be huge."

I found this particularly interesting in light of the recent uproar about the privacy and safety concerns of the Nike+iPod Sport Kit due to its wireless capabilities. Joggers who used the device could be tracked and the private data, which isn't encrypted, easily picked up.

I do hope that Nike and Apple will address these concerns. The researchers suggested easy enough steps. Regardless, while I'm not sure what "huge" means, I assume that neither company will suffer greatly from these concerns.

Apple and Nike announced today the launch of a new line of co-branded gear that will fuse the sports giant's footwear with iPod interaction. 

The first piece of the system launched is the nike+ipod sport kit, priced very reasonably at $29.  The nike+ipod sport kit functions as a wireless receiver which works in combination with compatible Nike footwear that contain embedded sensors.  The sensors deliver real-time feedback to the nike+ipod sport kit while the user exercises. 

The nike+ipod sport kit plugs directly to the base of the ipod Nano (currently the Nano is the only compatible iPod), and receives information on time, distance, calories burned, and pace.  The information is stored on the iPod, and can be displayed on its screen or delivered through the headphones.  The stored information on the iPod can later be synced to your computer.