The apparent inaccuracy of wearable fitness trackers has long bugged us, but we had been unable to put real scientific numbers to it. Fortunately, there are real researchers in the world, and they've established scientifically that most of the step-counting data you get from trackers is pretty bad. A letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association -- as mainstream … [Read more...]
Nike and Apple Working Are Working on a New Wearable. Clothing, Perhaps?
When Nike stopped developing its Fuelband wristware earlier this year, the company insisted that it wasn't abandoning wearables -- and there was plenty of speculation that Nike was merely ceding hardware development to Apple. Now Nike CEO Mark Parker has told Bloomberg TV that the companies are, indeed, hatching something. Parker's not saying what that something is, other … [Read more...]
No Rush Here, But Nike Finally Releases Android FuelBand App
Nike's been on the market with the FuelBand for about two years -- long enough to make a big splash with it and then more or less climb out of the pool. For all that time, the FuelBand has worked only with iOS devices. You use Android? You're not using Nike. Now that Nike has apparently stopped developing the hardware (while sticking with software and ramping up … [Read more...]
Who’s Making How Much Money in the Wearable Band Market
We've been thinking a lot about the recent Canalys report about market share in the wearables business, and we've been trying to tease some actual revenue numbers based in the results they published. This is valuable because these companies are either private and don't publish revenues, or are public and don't break this market down in their financials. Canalys said that … [Read more...]
Fitbit Leads the Wearables World: Canalys
Anyone can project billions of dollars in the future, but counting actual shipping products is hard. The consulting firm Canalys reports that Fitbit shipped nearly half of all wearable bands in the world in the first quarter of 2014. Overall, Canalys reported, 2.7 million wearable bands shipped worldwide last quarter, and Fitbit's strength was despite the skin rash-related … [Read more...]
Runkeeper CEO Says Fitness Trackers Are Dead; We’re Not So Sure
Business Insider is carrying a very thoughtful and provocative article by Runkeeper CEO Jason Jacobs. Jacobs says that standalone fitness trackers like the Nike FuelBand, the Fitbit Force, or the Misfit Shine, are fads -- and that the future belongs to smartphones and software. The argument -- that consumers consistently bias toward simplicity and not complexity -- is … [Read more...]
How the FuelBand Was Built (Updated)
In light of the recent layoff of Nike FuelBand hardware engineers, a friend pointed us to this recent post from Whipsaw, who did the FuelBand's industrial mechanical design. It's a good refresher course in how hard it is to design good hardware -- especially when the specifications and timeframe are as demanding as the FuelBand's were. Here in 2014, it's a little hard to … [Read more...]
Ringblingz’s Mullen on Why Nike Folded on Fuelband
Jenniey Mullen, the co-CEO of Ringblingz, has a smart post on LinkedIn about why Nike's getting out of the wearables hardware business. The nub of it: Nike's a great marketing company. But with the Fuelband, it doesn't have the product to back it up and other companies do. Nike would have to reinvent an entire division to play here, and Nike belongs in the wearable tech … [Read more...]
CNET: Nike Lays Off Most Fuelband Hardware Staff (Update)
CNet's Nick Statt reports that Nike has laid off as many as 55 people in its Digital Sport hardware team, essentially ending development of the Fuelband and Nike+ sportswatch. Sales of the Fuelband will continue, as will development of software, CNet saod. With the increasing sophistication of motion sensors built into phones themselves -- particularly the iPhone 5S -- Nike … [Read more...]
Is Nike Edging Away from the FuelBand?
CNet is carrying a lightly sourced article suggesting that Nike may be getting ready to be out of the FuelBand business. The site cites "a person familiar with the matter" as saying that the sportswear company has had internal talks about suspending development on the popular device. The NPD Group, the article says, puts Nike's share of the $330 million wearable fitness … [Read more...]