Adidas announces smartwatch geared to runners

Adidas has joined a number of companies offering wearable smartwatches for athletes, announcing a wearable device geared toward runners. The Adidas announcement follows a similar introduction Monday by competitor Nike of its FuelBand SE fitness tracker. Unlike full-featured smartwatches -- like Samsung\'s Galaxy Gear or Apple\'s expected iWatch -- Adidas\' watch will have a more stripped-down focus, Paul Gaudio, head of Adidas Interactive said Wednesday during the announcement at the Mobilize conference in San Francisco Wednesday. \"We\'re not trying to make a smartwatch; we\'re trying to make the smartest running watch,\" he told CNET. \"When you\'re out playing sports, you want less stuff -- only what you need to perform.\" The watch will give basic information on speed and distance of a run, but can also offer a runner coaching and training help based on the user\'s heart rate. A runner can hear an audio coach through headphones and listen to music through the watch while running, Adidas said. The watch will be available Nov. 1 at $399, the company said.