Nike CEO Mike Parker said that the sportswear company is winding down its wearable hardware efforts to focus on software after CNET reported last week it had dismantled its FuelBand team.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Nike CEO Mark Parker confirmed Friday that the division inside the sportswear company responsible for developing its FuelBand wearable fitness tracker would be shifting its focus to software, confirming CNET's earlier report that the company was getting out of the hardware race.
"We are focusing more on the software side of the experience," Parker said in an interview with CNBC when asked about its commitment to wearable hardware. "I think we will be part of wearables going forward. It will be integrated into other products that we create and that we're looking to expanding our partnerships to create more reach for the Nike Fuel and Fuel system that we have."
Parker was responding after a week of speculation over Nike's future role in wearables following a CNET story revealing that Nike had fired most of the hardware team behind the development of the FuelBand.
Parker did not commit specifically on the downsizing, nor did he confirm that the company was giving up on the FuelBand. Rather, Parker revealed, for the first time, that its software platform Nike+ has 30 million FuelBand users, and that the company wants to expand that number to 100 million.
When asked about a partnership with Apple, which is reportedly developing either a smartwatch dubbed the iWatch, Parker hinted at a possible collaboration.
"I will say that the relationship between Nike and Apple will continue," Parker said. This story is developing...
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