Not For You
I would have posted about this earlier, but needless to say I have been busy lately. Anyhow, Apple has teamed up with Nike. As you can tell, we like most of what Apple does. I am also a runner whenever I can make time for it. So when I read about their announcement, I was excited. Very excited.
When I run, I usually have my iPod Nano with me. Needless to say, having software that would record distance, time, pace and so on would be awesome. I popped over to the Nike+ web site and read through all of the information about their new products and how they work with your iPod. I was sold. I clicked the pre-order link thinking that peak running season is upon us, so this works out very nicely.
At the niketown.com site, where you are directed to pre-order, I added the Nike+ shoes and iPod kit to the cart. I then proceeded to add 2 new shirts and a pair of shorts, all of which I desperately need, and headed for the check out. I had read the availability advisement that Nike+ products would not begin shipping until early July, but I was fine with that. Getting the shoes, clothes and iPod kit all in one shipping box would be half the fun.
Lucky for me, as I was looking at my cart (see the graphic to the left), I noticed the very fine type in medium grey just in-between the remove from cart and subtotal lines that meekly states "U.S orders only". Hmmm... glad I saw that before trying to proceed with my purchase.
Granted there is nothing the developers can do to determine what country I actually live in, but they could test your IP address and warn you if you appear to be outside the US. Or the simple, less headache, low cost route would be to take the "U.S orders only" text and display it at the top and bottom of the screen. Perhaps in red and using some dom scripting, fade it from red out to grey over 20 seconds or so.
Needless to say, I am disappointed that I can not get Nike+ gear in my country before running season ends. However, as a web developer, what disappoints me more is the lack of world wide consideration for who is going to be interested in your product.
Nike, make it known that pre-order is for US customers only. Provide an alternative for visitors from outside the US. Give them a link directly to their country specific nike web site (that as of this writing is still trying to sell me hockey skates during running season and makes no mention of nike+ at all) that should have more details about getting the product into my hands as soon as possible.
I'm still stoked about being able to chart my runs while doing nothing other than wearing a new pair of shoes and plugging my iPod into my computer after every run. What I would like to see is a more conscious effort on the part of web developers and programmers from inside the US to give a little thought to the fact that people from around the world will be looking at your web site and trying to order your products. If they are US only, make sure it states so clearly BEFORE I get my cart full and am ready to check out. By the way, this sale would have been for $229.00 US and I had my credit card in hand.