Market Minute: Nike Discontinues Fuel Bands, Lays Off Staff

Transcript:
Nike recently discontinued Nike Fuel bands and fired a bunch of related staff. However, President and CEO Mark Parker said the company still plans to be a part of wearables going forward through partnerships to create more reach for the existing Fuel system.

Does this mean that Nike is out of the fitness tracking wristband business? Is Nike going to concentrate on software and apps and let others figure out the hardware? Or, does it mean that fitness tracking wristbands were a fad? Nike may stand for excellence in sports and fitness, but Nike Fuel did not stand for excellence in fitness tracking technology. Its unique combination of hardware and software was an experiment in fitness tracking, but Fuel points were an arbitrary metric that helped you accomplish nothing. It may be a sign that fitness tracking wristbands a fad, but the Quantified Self movement – of which fitness tracking wristbands are only one small part – is going to be here for long while.

So get ready: this is just the beginning.

 

Shelly Palmer is Fox 5 New York's On-air Tech Expert (WNYW-TV) and the host of Fox Television's monthly show Shelly Palmer Digital Living. He also hosts United Stations Radio Network's, ...

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