Is Apple in consultation with Nike to provide wearable tech apps?
Nike could be working with Apple to supply the application expertise for the launch of future wearable technology, Tamara Sword, a director of strategic marketing and advisory agency TRM&C has speculated while speaking at this week’s Moving Minds summit at Kinetic’s office in London.
Sword, a veteran of mobile and technology startups, said she’d “bet her house on Nike being involved with Apple as an app partner” following recent reports that it was to scrap its Fuel Band range, which it has since denied.
Nike’s Fuel Band was enthusiastically received by the industry when it launched last year but the decision by the company to pull the product last month was surprising to many.
“I would expect Nike to be in bed with Apple to provide the application technology,” said Sword. “Let’s face it, Apple is not going to bring out a standard wearable, it’s going to do much, much more. I’m thinking there’s going to be a healthcare application; monitoring glucose, heart, oxygen and general fitness.”
Sword’s comments have credence with Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, having served on Nike’s board since 2005.
Sword’s comments followed those made by Roshan Singh, the head of digital innovation at Kinetic, who also speculated about the sports brand’s exit from that market.
“I think they quickly got leapfrogged by other companies,” he said. “Fuel Band wasn’t integral to their business. I think the reason they pulled out was because they could provide a better user experience using someone else’s hardware, which is something that they’re not particularly embedded in. So they could use their shoes to power someone else’s hardware.”
A report from the event will run on The Drum website later.
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