Some gloomy news coming out of Nike today as reportedly the company
has laid off its hardware division, responsible for wearable devices
such as the FuelBand. For those not aware, the FuelBand was a popular
fitness device worn around your wrist that tracked your daily activities
with Nike’s mobile and desktop software.
According to CNET who broke the news, about 55 of the 70
people hardware team were laid off. Along with the FuelBand, the
hardware division was also responsible for products such as the Nike+
SportWatch.
The FuelBand was launched back in 2012 and received a minor update
last year. It was to receive another update this year before the entire
project was canned. According to Nike, “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.” However, according to a post
on the social network Secret, someone said “The douchebag execs at Nike
are going to lay off a bunch of the eng team who developed the FuelBand,
and other Nike+ stuff. Mostly because the execs committed gross
negligence, wasted tons of money, and didn’t know what they were doing.”
There may be a chance that Nike cancelling the FuelBand is in
preparation of the upcoming Apple wearable device. For those not aware,
Tim Cook is also a member of the Nike board. The FuelBand was an
iOS-exclusive device as well and would have thus competed directly
against whatever Apple would be announcing. Lastly, Nike has said that
it will concentrate on making software for fitness devices, so you can
bet it would work with the Apple device.
Of course, this is all speculation at this point but for now, the FuelBand is dead.
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