Apple and Nike have agreed to a settlement in a class action lawsuit that accuses the two companies of selling the Nike+ FuelBand fitness-tracking device despite knowing that the device was inaccurate in its measurements.
As a result of the settlement, Nike will pay out $2.4 million in claims to those who purchased the FuelBand between January 2012 and June 2015. Despite the fact that Apple sold the FuelBand from its stores until March, it will not have to pay anything.
"Under the Settlement, Nike has agreed to provide either a Fifteen Dollar ($15) payment or a Twenty-Five Dollar ($25) gift card redeemable at Nike-owned stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and online at Nike.com, for each Nike+ FuelBand purchased by members of the Settlement Class during the class period for which a valid claim is timely submitted," stated nikefuelbandsettlement.com, the website dedicated to "each class member who timely submits a valid claim may choose between the monetary payment or the gift card."
The plaintiffs were led by class representative Carolyn Levin, who says that the FuelBand is unable to live up to the advertisements suggesting the device can accurately track things such as calorie burn.
The case highlights problems associated with fitness trackers in general. A number of fitness trackers claim to track calorie burn using sensors such as the accelerometer combined with an algorithm. These readings, however, are often inaccurate. An accelerometer simply cannot gain accurate information related to calorie burn. Often, however, consumers ignore the inaccuracy of these devices, saying that readings are relative, meaning that the devices look for positive or negative changes compared to the previous readings that they have gathered.
Cases like this, however, suggest that fitness tracking devices will undergo far more scrutiny in the future. It is likely that consumers will see more lawsuits of a similar nature as time goes on and the fitness tracking market grows.
Nike itself ceased production of products in the fitness wearable market last year, instead turning to creating fitness tracking software.
People who purchased the Nike+ FuelBand between January 2012 and June 2015 can file a claim for a reward through the official website for the settlement. Claims can be filed until January 4, 2016, and multiple claims can be filed for those who purchased multiple FuelBands. Those who find the settlement a little too small can also object to the terms of the settlement by following the instructions in the legal notice from the court.
