Nike drastically layoffs FuelBand team, while outgoing messages will stop wearable equipment production

Nike slashed the FuelBand team over the weekend, while the news that Nike would stop the production of wearable equipment.

The next day, Nike conceded that layoffs were true, but the rumor was that Nike would continue to launch new hand-ring products in the future.

Although Nike has officially been a rumour-maker, the move, in many ways, is just to "fly for a while" before Apple launches its iwatch, offering new listings and devices that still sell in stores.

Why do you say that? There are four reasons:

The IPhone 5s has been like a big hand ring

Last September, Apple released the iphone 5s and announced that it was carrying a M7 collaboration processor. When introducing M7, take Nike+move as demo demo, showing that users can get their motion data directly from the IPhone 5s.

In other words, if the IPhone 5s is equipped with peripherals and is tied to an arm like an apple ad, it is a "bracelet" product. You can even think of it as a powerful future version of iwatch. The difference is only one in the wrist, one in the arm.

Upcoming iwatch

In the long run, if Nike continues to launch wearable bracelet, its biggest opponent is iwatch (Nike's Android app doesn't support NikeFuel), which comes from Nike's partner Apple.

From this page of detail, it seems that Apple is iwatch to push the wheel. If the news is true, combined with the latest leaked IOS 8 screenshots (especially the new Healthbook, Watch Utility), iwatch can include the ability to detect heart rates, blood pressure and even blood sugar, in addition to basic steps.

So if Nike's future hand ring is still purely for health monitoring, it is not competitive with iwatch,nike peripherals that are more powerful than test metrics.

The NikeFuel software platform is worth more than the hardware itself

NikeFuel is the core of the Nike series of apps and products, and to narrow it down, it's a Nike itself. A unit that calculates the energy consumption of a user's motion, to be large, it is a platform that can manage the situation and data of all the users ' movements, and Nike will nikefuel in early April The platform is open to third-party developers.

Nike's hand ring sell well again, don't forget, its essence is still a sports brand business. With so many mobile apps, including Open NikeFuel KPIs, the production of FuelBand bracelets, the ultimate goal is to get users to exercise more, as long as they move, they may buy their own clothes, hats, knee pads, wrist guards and sneakers. Nike may not be so concerned about which hardware manufacturer's products it uses. And perhaps for Nike, making hardware is a costly, cycle-long, and a lot of uncontrollable trouble.

This may also be why the layoffs have not affected the Nike digital technology sector.

Borrow the apple, enlarge the user base

NikeFuel is an iOS based platform, and the importance of iOS and Apple's relationship to Nike is self-evident.

The relationship between Nike and Apple has always been good. Tim Cook has been on the Nike board for seven years now. If it insists on pushing hardware, Tim Cook is likely to quit the Nike board, like Eric Schmidt. And if you can hitch an apple ride, Nike will not only expand the NikeFuel user base, but also sell more Nike products.