Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Nike Fires Majority of FuelBand Team, Plans to Stop Making Wearables
Nike plans to cease making wearable hardware and it has fired the majority of the 80-person team responsible for the FuelBand fitness tracker. Instead, the company will focus its efforts on fitness software, according to an unnamed source that spoke to CNET.
As the competition in the fitness wearable category has increased with entries from Jawbone and Fitbit, Nike has opted to shift its focus to software. Company spokesman Brian Strong told CNET in an email that Nike continually aligns its resources with business priorities and that it has made changes to its team as its Digital Sport priorities have shifted. Nike is also opening an incubator called Fuel Lab in San Francisco to allow developers to create products that incorporate its workout metric NikeFuel and plug into a Nike+ API that'll come this fall.
Nike's move away from wearables also comes as Apple's long-rumored iWatch is expected to come to fruition. Apple CEO Tim Cook is an avid wearer of the FuelBand and has sat on the Nike board for the last nine years, which has helped the two brands foster a strong relationship.
A possible partnership between Apple and Nike wouldn't be out of the question as the athletic company was one of the first to show support for the iPhone 5s' motion coprocessor, debuting the Nike+ Move app alongside the iPhone 5s at Apple's media event. Apple also helped Nike enter the wearable market in 2006 with the Nike+iPod shoe package.
Apple has also hired former members of the Nike's Digital Sport team, picking up former FuelBand consultant Jay Blahnik last August and Nike design director Ben Shaffer last September.
Apple is expected to release the iWatch later this year alongside iOS 8 and the iPhone 6.
Update 9:54 PM: Nike has issued a statement to Re/code indicating that it plans to continue selling and supporting the current Nike FuelBand and that it plans a "small number" of layoffs, but the company did not directly address whether development of any new hardware will continue.
The shoemaker isn't throwing in the towel on technology. Rather, it's turning away from hardware and realigning its focus exclusively on fitness and athletic software, a strategic shift that would still benefit the company in the long run, analysts said.
As the competition in the fitness wearable category has increased with entries from Jawbone and Fitbit, Nike has opted to shift its focus to software. Company spokesman Brian Strong told CNET in an email that Nike continually aligns its resources with business priorities and that it has made changes to its team as its Digital Sport priorities have shifted. Nike is also opening an incubator called Fuel Lab in San Francisco to allow developers to create products that incorporate its workout metric NikeFuel and plug into a Nike+ API that'll come this fall.
Nike's move away from wearables also comes as Apple's long-rumored iWatch is expected to come to fruition. Apple CEO Tim Cook is an avid wearer of the FuelBand and has sat on the Nike board for the last nine years, which has helped the two brands foster a strong relationship.
A possible partnership between Apple and Nike wouldn't be out of the question as the athletic company was one of the first to show support for the iPhone 5s' motion coprocessor, debuting the Nike+ Move app alongside the iPhone 5s at Apple's media event. Apple also helped Nike enter the wearable market in 2006 with the Nike+iPod shoe package.
Apple has also hired former members of the Nike's Digital Sport team, picking up former FuelBand consultant Jay Blahnik last August and Nike design director Ben Shaffer last September.
Apple is expected to release the iWatch later this year alongside iOS 8 and the iPhone 6.
Update 9:54 PM: Nike has issued a statement to Re/code indicating that it plans to continue selling and supporting the current Nike FuelBand and that it plans a "small number" of layoffs, but the company did not directly address whether development of any new hardware will continue.
“The Nike+ FuelBand SE remains an important part of our business,” the company said in a statement emailed to Re/code. “We will continue to improve the Nike+ FuelBand App, launch new METALUXE colors, and we will sell and support the Nike+ FuelBand SE for the foreseeable future.”Sources have told Re/code that Nike has been debating for months what to do with the FuelBand line in the face of issues with financial performance and attracting engineers to work on the project.
The language does seem to leave a lot of room, however, for the possibility that the Portland athletic apparel giant won’t produce future products in the FuelBand line. One source with knowledge of the situation said that it could be that Nike wants to be able to run down its inventory of devices, or that it still has not completely decided to shutter the unit.
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
[ 156 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
69 months ago
Maybe it was because people want real, universal data for their fitness, not some proprietary "fuel" point that doesn't really do anything.
69 months ago
... Plans to Stop Making Wearables
Stop Making Wearables
Wearables
Might want to clarify it's tech wearables; kind of confusing coming from a sports apparel company...
69 months ago
Well if this isn't a clear sign of an impending iWatch announcement, I don't know what is.
69 months ago
What timing. Shut down the Nike Fuel band just in time for Apple to release or at least announce the iWatch at WWDC in June!
69 months ago
Normally employees would be laid off in a case like this, not fired.
That's because MacRumors is embellishing and every other tech site is saying laid off.
69 months ago
they just updated the nike fuelband. them doing this is clearly in anticipation of the iwatch which they might be helping develop
69 months ago
Is this another NSCalendar bug that should have surfaced 1st of April?
As far as I know the Fuelband has been hugely successful.
Why stop producing something that people already care about when the future design of wearables is largely unknown or already missing expectations?
I think this is a strange move, because the major advantage of the Fuelband was that you were not tied to one ecosystem.
Really confusing... if you ask me.
Fuelband only works on iOS last time I checked.
69 months ago
We are closer to the much anticipated and speculated iWatch. My wallet is ready. :D
----------
This doesn't make any sense...:confused:
----------
Proof the iWatch will fail. The concept has already failed. Concept first, product second.
This doesn't make any sense...:confused:
[ Read All Comments ]
Plex today announced a few updates for its Apple TV and iOS apps, adding notable new features that are worth highlighting.
The Apple TV app now supports HDR video playback, and Plex Pass...
The newest version of Spotify for iOS, released yesterday, quietly added support for Apple's multitasking Slide Over and Split View feature on the iPad.
As noted on Reddit and highlighted by...
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of watchOS 6, the software that runs on the Apple Watch. The new beta comes two weeks after the third beta and more than a month after Apple first unveiled the new...
Apple today seeded fourth beta of an upcoming tvOS 13 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the third beta and more than a month after unveiling the tvOS 13 software at the Worldwide...
Belkin today announced the launch of three new wireless chargers in its BOOST lineup, all of which will be available from Apple's online store and select Apple retail locations.
All of the...
Square Panda today announced that its phonics learning system for kids will now be sold at select Apple Stores and on Apple.com.
The Bluetooth-enabled, multisensory playset uses iPad apps to...
Google Maps this week expanded real-time bikesharing information to 23 additional cities in 16 countries around the world.
In addition to New York City, the feature is now available in...
In celebration of World Emoji Day today, the Unicode Consortium has announced the launch of a redesigned website aimed at making it easier for anyone to submit a proposal for a new emoji.
For...
