A fresh report that is bound to turn many heads, Nike has fired most of its engineers working on the FuelBand and will stop production of the famous wearable.
The news comes at a time when the speculation regarding Apple’s iWatch is at an all time high. And keeping in mind the staunch relationship between Nike and Apple – Apple CEO Tim Cook is a Nike board member – the news of FuelBand shuttering down serves as one of the biggest piece of puzzle in Apple’s dive into the smart wearable market.
While Nike is yet to make the news official through its consumer facing website, they have already confirmed it to CNet in an email sent by Nike’s spokesperson Brian Strong. According to Brian:
As a fast-paced, global business we continually align resources with business priorities… As our Digital Sport priorities evolve, we expect to make changes within the team, and there will be a small number of layoffs. We do not comment on individual employment matters.
The number of employees being laid off is significantly high, rather than ‘small’, as Brian puts it. With 70 people working on the FuelBand hardware, around 70 to 80 percent were shown the door. Nike strongly believes that their future lies in fitness software now, and therefore axing FuelBand hardware is a logical choice.
It’s quite possible that the team will move on to Apple’s grip where they will work on the iWatch. But again, this is all speculation, but considering how things are unfolding, it’s highly likely that this is the case, and we will definitely have more information on this in the time to come.
The rumored iWatch is expected to be a sensor filled mammoth, and on many occasions it has been pointed out that Apple’s wrist gear will be the only gadget you’ll need for all your fitness requirements.
The latest Nike+ FuelBand, dubbed as the FuelBand SE, was announced in October 2013 at a dedicated event and went on sale in November.
Guess we won’t be seeing another version of FuelBand after all.
You may also like to check out:
You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the Web.
