CNET reports that Nike are getting out of the wearable market.
Best comment:
Tech press reporting that Nike are getting out of "wearables" market. They'll continue to make non-wearable items like trainers & clothes.
— Tom Morris š³ļøāš (@tommorris) April 19, 2014
But seriously.
The tech commentariat is going crazy, passing around the conspiracy theory that Tim Cook, who sits on Nikeās board, killed the FuelBand effort.
- > Iāve been saying
- this
- for a while
- Tim Cook remaining on Nikeās board while Apple readies its own health/fitness-focused device was
awkward at best
. - [John Gruber](
- http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/04/18/nike-fuelband āCNet: Nike Fires FuelBand Engineering Team; Set to Exit Wearable Hardware Market" )
Interesting, particularly when you consider that Tim Cook sits on the Nike board.
Itās worth remembering that Tim Cook is on Nikeās board, and that Nike and Apple have long collaborated on fitness.
I donāt think that Tim Cook strong-armed Nike into dropping the FuelBand to favour Appleās own iWatch. Itās simply that āwearable tech" is not a discrete device. I wore a Jawbone Up! band for more than a year, but when I somehow ripped off the button end against a door frame, I couldnāt be bothered to replace it, and I donāt miss it. The only thing that class of wearables - Fitbit, FuelBand, Up!, theyāre all interchangeable for the purpose of this discussion - is generating moderately interesting stats on your everyday level of activity. Sure, it was mildly amusing to get back to the hotel at the end of a long day wandering around Manhattan and upload that I had walked thirty thousand steps, but I knew already that I had done a ton of walking simply by the feel of my legs and feet! When I took actual exercise, the Up! didnāt track it very well, because a wrist-mounted sensor isnāt very good at working out how hard you are cycling or snowboarding.
Instead, I use an app on my iPhone, which does GPS tracking. I still have an ancient - I mean, vintage - 4S, so I donāt have any of the fancy-schmancy M7 sensors in the 5S, but even so, itās much better at actually tracking exercise than the dedicated devices.
Sure, I could go all in and get one of those heartbeat monitors and what-not, but quite frankly I canāt be bothered. I donāt exercise to beat some abstract number, although I admit to keeping an eye on my average speed on the bicycle. Given the low frequency of my outings (surprise! two kids take up a whole bunch of your free time), Iām quite happy with my 30 km/h average, without needing to plot heartbeat, hydration, etc.
It is looking more and more like Apple is not building a watch at all, and I think thatās exactly the right move. We have spent the last twenty years or so reducing the amount of devices we carry.
Why reverse that trend now?
Nike just saw which way the wind was blowing - maybe with a little help from Tim Cook.