Nike Denies Rumor That It’s Discontinuing the FuelBand
On Sunday it was reported that Nike had laid off 55 of its 70-person hardware team, a move that looked like it would kill the popular Nike FuelBand personal fitness tracking product.
On Monday, the tech site Re/code got a statement from Nike that undercut that report:
“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.”
“We will continue to leverage partnerships to expand our ecosystem of digital products and services, using NikeFuel as the universal currency for measuring, motivating and improving,” the company said.
As Re/code then notes, that’s not a categorical denial of the original report that the FuelBand was in its death throes. (If the unit is doing so well, why are most of its staff being let go?)
The FuelBand is a bracelet that can track your steps and level of activity and sync with a smartphone app that organizes all of that information. It is part of a growing movement of “wearables,” or computerized tech devices that you can wear on your person. Jawbone’s UP wristband and Google’s Glass headset are also considered wearables; many analysts and tech-watchers have predicted that wearable technology will boom in the next several years, similar to how smartphones and tablets have exploded in popularity recently.
The rumored discontinuation of the Nike FuelBand would seem to be a blow to that prediction.
The news broke when an anonymous person who claims to be a Nike insider began discussing the dismantling of the business on Secret, the gossip app.
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