Dole Gets Into Wearables ... With a Banana

What this high tech banana can tell you.

ByABC News
February 20, 2015, 12:14 PM
Dole’s Japanese division has created a unique wearable banana.
Dole’s Japanese division has created a unique wearable banana.
Dole

— -- Who needs the Apple watch when you can have Dole's wearable banana?

The fruit and technology hybrid was the brainchild of Dole's team in Japan, which was looking for an innovative way to celebrate its sponsorship of the Tokyo marathon this Sunday.

Enter the wearable banana, which will be strapped to the wrists of a few lucky runners. A video showing what Dole is billing as the "world's first edible wearable" appears to indicate that the technology is inserted into the fruit through a small incision in the banana peel.

The fruit can display a runner's time, heart rate and tweets of encouragement on the yellow peel to keep them going throughout the grueling 26.2 mile race, according to Dole.

When it's time to replenish potassium, the banana will flash an "eat me" sign to remind the runner to grab a banana along the route.

Dole Japan spokesperson Itaru Kunieda revealed a few specs of the new technology.

"The power source is a small battery connected to the wearable banana. Inside the battery there are ultracompact LEDs," Kuneida told CNET. "These are the only details about the specs that we can tell you at the moment."

It's not the first time Dole has gone bananas over its sponsorship of the Tokyo Marathon. The company previously printed runners' results on the peels, providing a delicious souvenir.