To this point, the 50 Cent-sponsored SMS Audio could have charitably been described as an also-ran in the branded headphones space that Beats Electronics defined. But a new pair of earbuds with built-in biometric sensors could be changing the company’s fortunes.

SMS Audio, in cooperation with [company]Intel[/company], announced the BioSport In-Ear Headphones on Thursday. It’s a product that marks one of the first times a sensor-based wearable device has been distributed and designed with the same brand-first approach that made Beats into a billion dollar company.

The SMS BioSport earbuds not only pump music but also can track physical activity with an optical light sensor built into the earbud. The earbuds can monitor heart rate, sending that data to the Runkeeper phone app, with potentially more supported apps in the future.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because the BioSport earbuds are the commercial version of the prototype smart earbuds Intel debuted at CES. The optical sensor technology used…