The Apple Beat: Wearables and the Nike Connection

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The wearable market is shaping up, albeit in a scattered and non-standard fashion and many believe that it is just a matter of time before Apple dives into this emerging sector of consumer technology. Nike, which has long been allied with Apple, (and which Apple CEO  Tim Cook has served as board member for close to a decade now), is said to be abandoning its Fuelband line to focus on software.

Nike feels it can compete by being the Microsoft of wearables, focusing on the software, cloud component and branding while it licenses the hardware to third parties. Apple would be a perfect partner and because it has been one traditionally (remember iPod +Nike, Nike +, Fuelband). How does Nike benefit? Well if Apple, sells its wearables exclusively in Nike stores as well as Apple Retail Stores, it could generate substantial attached sales on accessories, shoes and clothing.

Tim Cook has been spotted wearing Fuelband and is an avowed user of that device and system. Apple has also hired various key personnel and figures from NBike and specifically the Fuelband team. Now that Nike is supposedly letting go of the majority of their Fuelband team. It is possible many of these engineers and designers will find their way to Apple.

An alliance with Nike gives Apple a leg up on the health tracking, quantified self and wearables space. Nike was a pioneer in the area and has perfected the wearable plus smartphone and cloud component which Apple can easily adopt in its future devices. I can even see an exclusive arrangement between the two companies, at least for an intial period. There are many new and interesting ways that Apple and Nike can collaborate and possibly corner the market. Apple is definitely looking at this space and with the rumoured Healthbook app expected to be major part of iOS 8, things are just starting to get interesing. 

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Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla has covered technology, telecoms and has analyzed the industry and products since the early 90's. He is a columnist for the Calgary Herald, Speed Magazine and a contributor to various international publications. Follow him on Twitter at @gadjosevilla