Apple Hires Nike Design Director With Experience in Wearables

benshafferApple has hired former Nike design director Ben Shaffer, claims 9to5Mac, citing a source at Nike. Shaffer worked as the Studio Director of the "Innovation Kitchen", Nike’s research and development lab, which produced popular Nike products like the Nike Fuelband and the Flyknit shoe.

While it is unknown what position Shaffer will take on at Apple, it seems likely that he will be involved in the development of the iWatch, given his expertise in wearables. Apple has been aggressively hiring for its iWatch team in recent months, acquiring a number of experts in the health sensor field. The company also recently hired fitness expert and former Nike consultant Jay Blahnik.

At the D11 conference in May, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the idea of smart watches and other wearables "incredibly interesting" saying the market was "ripe for exploration." Since then, Apple has filed for "iWatch" trademarks in a number of countries across the world, including Jamaica, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey, Colombia, Chile, and India.

The most recent rumors have suggested Apple's iWatch will not make an appearance until late 2014 due to "hard engineering problems" that have yet to be solved.

Update: According to Fast Company's Austin Carr, though Shaffer did oversee Nike's Innovation Kitchen, he was not a part of the Nike Fuelband team, making it unclear what his role at Apple will be.

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Top Rated Comments

FrizzleFryBen Avatar
152 months ago
I'm holding out for the iCombover
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
UnfetteredMind Avatar
152 months ago
Why bother with all this expense - just copy the Samsung design.

Because they want it to not be a piece of crap :)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ZMacintosh Avatar
152 months ago
the way he looks, appears he's fit to be an Apple Retail mac Specialist :o
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dBeats Avatar
152 months ago
Apparently Samsung is about to announce that they hired some dude with a beard who worked at NewBalance, or was that Sketchers?. Ah it doesn't matter just get SOMEONE from a shoe company with a beard already! C'mon Samsung do your best copycat hire impression!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tankmaze Avatar
152 months ago
Cook is on Nike Board Of Directors

this kind of thing kinda reminds me when Steve showed Pixar movies in a demo, and were very proud of it.

Like Craig said in an interview, doing something new is easy, doing it right... is hard.
Hope they got it right for this iwatch!!!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacFather Avatar
152 months ago
Deleted.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)