Nike Fires Fuelband Team But New Colours On The Way

Recent reports towards the end of last week said that Nike were allegedly going to be shutting down its FuelBand department following a spate of layoffs on Friday.  If this were true however, it would marked a significant exit in the wearable fitness device market by one of the most prominent companies involved.  But the rumour appears to have been slightly exaggerated however, according to information provided to Re/code by Nike.

There were undeniably some layoffs within the Fuelband department as Nike have confirmed, but the sports giant also said it is still very much committed to the Nike+ FuelBand SE and the firm is planning new colour options for the gadget.  The company also said that they would support it and continue to sell the product for the foreseeable future.

Nike confirmed a “small number” of layoffs within their digital sports division, but attempted to brush off a report late Friday, which said the company was shuttering the hardware side of its FuelBand team.

“The Nike+ FuelBand SE remains an important part of our business,” the company said in a statement, which was emailed to Re/code. “We will continue to improve the Nike+ FuelBand App, launch new METALUXE colours, and we will sell and support the Nike+ FuelBand SE for the foreseeable future.”

Nike plans to continue with its original arrangement of adding to the Silver and Rose Gold ‘Metaluxe’ edition Nike+ FuelBand SE models with the addition of colorways.  Nike haven’t   said anything regarding hardware development beyond the current generation FuelBand models, which may indicate that their commitment to the wearable device market extends only as far as this particular gadget, but then again, it maybe developing more wearable tech, who knows?

There has been much speculation that Nike is planning to move focus into software in the future.  This could be to do with supporting other company’s hardware, such as Apple. As you no doubt be well aware, Apple is rumoured to be developing an iWatch.  This is also rumoured to have health-tracking features.  Interestingly Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, is a member of Nike’s board of directors.

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[Image via hypebeast]

SOURCE: http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/19/nike-says-the-fuelband-isnt-dead-new-color-options-coming/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000595