Update 4/18 1:23 a.m. : Re/Code reports that Nike confirmed a "small number" of layoffs, and will keep Nike+ FuelBand SE as part of its business. The company told Re/Code in a statement that it "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.”
Nike plans to shut down its wearable hardware efforts for its FuelBand, reports CNET. The company let go this week the majority of its team responsible for the fitness tracker’s development.
Nike’s 70-person FuelBand team was part of the company’s larger 200-person Digital Sport division, which has 30 employees in Hong Kong and the remainder in the firm’s Beaverton, Ore. headquarters.
As many as 55 people were fired from the hardware team on Thursday, according to CNET’s sources. Some of the employees might be staying on with Nike until May, or internally recruited to other departments.
Word of the firings first started buzzing around Secret, the anonymous social network mostly used by the West Coast tech world, last week.
Nike had planned to launch a sleeker version of the FuelBand as early as next fall. The company released its second edition of the wearable tech in November 2013.
Now that Nike has ditched the hardware component, the firm plans to shift its focus towards fitness software like its Nike + API, which hardware makers can integrate into their fitness tech products. The company also launched last week a San Francisco-based software incubator, called Fuel Lab, aimed at helping companies integrate NikeFuel, its fitness measurement system, into their own wearables.
Coincidentally, on the same day Nike employees were informed of the layoffs, Boston-based fitness app RunKeeper launched Breeze, a sleek activity-tracking app powered by the iPhone 5S’s M7 motion-sensitive processor.
The M7 processor runs almost invisibly on a smartphone throughout the day, gathering data around its movements and location. The accessible, comprehensive data collection then enables developers, like those at RunKeeper, to harness the information and build a valuable user experience on top of it. Because the tech to track every step you take is built into the phone, accompanying wearables, like Nike’s FuelBand and FitBit, become largely unnecessary.
After less than 48 hours on the market, Breeze is ranked second in the App Store among free fitness and health apps, and is listed as one of the best new apps overall.
We've also heard that RunKeeper is out raising a big round funding, and looking for a new office that is double its current size. The company, founded in 2008, has raised $11.5 million to date from Spark Capital and Launch Capital, among others.
Image via Nike
