Patently Apple posts on a “patent application from Apple that reveals various aspects of a newly advanced Fitness Center App.”
Apple’s patent describes the possibility that the iPhone will one day include a single, seamless application that will introduce new customers to a fitness center and motivate these new customers to keep returning to the fitness center as active members.
Think about that same concept for a bike shop or coaching. For all the current iPhone, bike-related apps none are integrating performance, coaching, and community. Rides have meet at shops since there have been shops. How could an owner encourage more interaction with technology?
Bike Commuter Counter
Also in the news today is Dero ZAP Bike Commuter Counter
The Dero ZAP provides you with a reliable and easy way for you to accurately track and encourage biking as a healthy, green mode of transportation to and from your organization.
That’s an RFID tag you attach to a Bike to Work participant’s bike (for example) and track their progress – they just need to ride by the sensor. I know groups manually track commuters now with spreadsheets or their own websites and reward them with incentives and prizes. What Dero has done is package up a system.
Now if you combined what Apple is thinking,with a shop or Bike to Work angle. Then connect that to RFID tags, that’s a very promising use of tech and bikes to create community.
Update
Facebook fan Matthew Cole commented
love the idea of RFID for encouraging commuting. Next level would be feeding a commuter a list of “you might enjoy commuting with…” in the same way that Facebook or Twitter suggest following/friending based on overlap in contact list graphs. instead, the app would recommend fellow commuters by similar RFID nodes crossed. Benefits are improved community, safety.
Exactly!
And there’s more I tweeted this morning. 
GlennF explains why and how phones crowdsource GPS data in a Macworld article
Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites.
Map of iPhone Data collection points
iPhones are collecting that data to triangulate your location quickly and accurately. Meanwhile Zulutime patents similar technology for 1 on 1 commerce
ZuluTime delivers cost-effective in-store location solutions, enabling retailers to strengthen customer loyalty and increase sales by engaging shoppers based on their specific location inside the store.
I’m less interested in a big-box store experience and having my phone tell me where the blue-light specials are, but instead a connected Fondo ride. At various points along the route, you’ve got vendors, hotels, shops, and snack stops lighting up your phone, mounted on your bike.
Triangulated bike rides that connect consumers to retailers? That’s getting into Bike Shop 2.0.
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