Nike's CEO Says Apple & Nike to Expand into Wearables
Something's brewing: Today, in an interview with Bloomberg's Stephanie Ruhle, Nike CEO Mark Parker said that he was quite bullish on their relationship with Apple and made an interesting statement about working with Apple on wearables.
In the Bloomberg interview, Parker specifically stated that "I'm actually quite bullish on our relationship with Apple. As you know, Tim Cook is on the Nike board. We're - we've worked - I worked with Steve Jobs a long time ago when we introduced the Nike+ for the very first time. So as I look ahead and what's possible between Nike and Apple, two as you said, amazing brands."
Parker added that "Technologically we can do things together that we couldn't do independently. So, yes, that's part of our plan is to expand the whole digital frontier in terms of wearables, and go from what we say is tens of millions of users. Right now there's 25 million Nike+ users, but to hundreds of millions."
On whether wearables are the future, Parker stated that "I think it's going to be a big part of the future, absolutely. I think and what form it takes is the big question, but I think people getting more information in a simple user-friendly way, and getting feedback that helps them understand themselves better is a way to improve yourself, and I think connect with other people to keep pace with what's going on in the world. So I think wearables - I think the form it takes is what's critical. You can go from very geeky kind of wearables today. We've seen, all seen some of those, to I think what you'll see in the future are things that are more stealth, more integrated, more stylish and more functional, yes."
In April it was reported that Nike had dismantled their FuelBand wearables team, though Nike denied it by saying that they simply cut back on the team. On that note, it's unclear at this time as to how the two companies plan to expand the Nike + project and whether or not a new wearable device is in the works. Parker's view that wearables should be more "stealth," would certainly dismiss simply working with Apple Watch Sport. What could it be? Only time will tell.
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