Despite rumors Nike is looking to offload its wearable tech research, development and strategy to another interested party the sportswear/tech player is moving forward to establish a standard on activity tracking platform and has opened a brand-new lab to make it happen.
The goal is to let fitness applications developers do what they do best: innovate. Nike wants them to do just that using its NikeFuel measurement system.
The news comes as competition within the fitness tech and app realm continues to expand with new tools, devices and vendors striving to capitalize on the potentially lucrative opportunity.
"We are excited about evolving NikeFuel to deliver richer experiences that make it easier for all athletes to reach their potential," Nike digital sport executive Stefan Olander said in a release. "The demand for simpler data-powered experiences is soaring, and all-day sensing is more available on mobile and wearable devices than ever before. Nike is committed to broadening the use of NikeFuel through collaborations with industry leaders to create smarter products and services."
It's the latest move by Nike to tap emerging fitness innovations. It's become partners with a slew of third-party app creators including MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper. Using proprietary algorithms NikeFuel gathers oxygen consumption data from motion sensors in devices and wearable tech items.
At the new lab Nike developers and researchers will work with its growing partner base to test and develop new applications
The announcement Thursday seems to fly in the face of a news report claiming Nike is looking to leave the wearable tech market and sell off its fitness tracker FuelBand device that, according to The NPD Group, accounted for 10 percent of sales in wearable fitness trackers.
A Nike analyst quoted in the news report said he believed the rumors weren't tied to selling FuelBand per se, as much the goal of developing a pool of customers to propel more fitness activities, and obviously more product demand, in the general population.
Given the increasing competitors in the wearable tech market, from start-ups to powerhouses including Apple, Nike, which is known for carving out specific product niches with its footwear and clothing lines, might just be talking out loud about where it wants to stake a claim. At this point it's got a huge emerging market landscape to make that happen.
