9 ms·

It's surprising to see it so early, but they probably see the writing on the wall. Once Android Wear and Apple wearables start rolling out, it's going to be a s

It's surprising to see it so early, but they probably see the writing on the wall. Once Android Wear and Apple wearables start rolling out, it's going to be a slaughter out there. Apple and Nike teaming up for the iWatch launch is probably a safe bet now too.

ben1040 12y ago
Worth mentioning too that Nike has several job openings in PDX for Android engineers to work on Nike+, so clearly they're looking to shed their Apple exclusivity thus far.
- smoyer 12y ago
  Or perhaps their website hasn't kept up with the restructuring? On another note, why are these reports saying the engineers were "fired"? It's one thing to be let go when a project was discontinued but nobody wants the stigma of being fired on their record.
  - walshemj 12y ago
    Unfortunetly a lot of people slopply use fired as an exact synonym for redundancy or layoffs Its not! One would have hoped that a suposedly jounalistic endevour would use correct language for fear of beiing sued for "professional slander"
0x0 12y ago
Interesting to note that Tim Cook is on the Nike board, while iOS8 is rumored to feature a new "healthbook" type app, plus all those iWatch rumors.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> Once Android Wear and Apple wearables start rolling out, it's going to be a slaughter out there. For Nike, its already a slaughter -- FitBit has the lion's share of the market for activity trackers, Nike was in third well behind Jawbone UP. [1] [1] http://mobihealthnews.com/28825/fitbit-jawbone-nike-had-97-percent-of-fitness-tracker-retail-sales-in-2013/ http://mobihealthnews.com/28825/fitbit-jawbone-nike-had-97-p...
- Bahamut 12y ago
  Those are some interesting stats, since amongst runner circles (at least here in DC), Garmins are the most popular by far. Could they be classifying these devices differently?
  - amritamaz 12y ago
    I think activity trackers are classified slightly different from the GPS watch market you're perceiving Garmin to dominate. DCRainmaker says Garmin's first activity monitor device was first released in early 2014. http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/vivofit-activity-monitors.html http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/vivofit-activity-monitors...
  - notatoad 12y ago
    from what i've seen of the fitness tracker market, the customers buying these aren't typically athletes, they're dieters. People buying devices to track their workouts are a smaller market than people buying wristbands to track their steps over the course of a workday. Fitbit is for people who want a record of the fact that they took the stairs instead of the elevator every day this week.
  - enjo 12y ago
    Fitbit has absolutely nailed the user experience. It's incredibly simple. The battery lasts forever. Plus they've found the perfect level of gamification to make the thing a viral hit. In my social circle, at the very least, the thing has basically taken over. Everyone has one. Everyone is pushing it on their friends because they want to compete against them too. They have a really nice business going. I have to believe that is miles ahead of what Garmin is doing (which is definitely a different type of tracking).
  - krschultz 12y ago
    My fiancee is a runner and I recently purchased her a Garmin GPS watch as a gift. I had originally planned to buy a FitBit, but they're just not meant for the same thing as the Garmin watch. The Garmin is useful when you are actually running to figure out your pace, distance, etc. The FitBit is more of a logging device and you don't really look at it while running. The FitBit doesn't have a screen, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a GPS.
hyp0 12y ago
I can see iWatches as a big market for a startup, or add-on for Nike - but not for Apple. The profits can't move their meter. The problem is input: Apple solved it for phones (touch screen). They tried voice-recog for shuffle iPod, but dropped it in the next iteration. If they really are making a mass-market iWatch, I think they must have solved this problem in some other way. (Glass solves it, so maybe it won't be a watch...)
- thinkling 12y ago
  I find it interesting that voice-reco is a primary input mechanism for both the Amazon Fire TV and Amazon's scanner gadget for their Fresh grocery delivery service. The Fire TV is not on battery power, so it's not surprising there. But the scanner wand gadget presumably doesn't have much of a CPU in it, nor does it rely on a nearby smartphone.
  - hyp0 12y ago
    Yes, they claim their voice reco "really works" - I don't find it a credible claim... except that, when you have a confined univese of possible matches (e.g. grocery items), it doesn't so much have to recognise the word, as distinguish between the known candidates. For example, just counting the number of syllables can narrows it down (even identif it: yif expecting a digit, only "7" has two). And no verbs etc. Isn't the scanner online (so it can tell amazon what you ordered)? If so, I expect it uses servers, like siri and google voice. (Also processors are pretty small these days: the CPU in a phone takes up dramatically less space than the display or battery).
    - gress 12y ago
      They can back the voice recognition with mechanical Turk. If the recognizer has a lower confidence than desired they just ship the sample to a human.
- robgibbons 12y ago
  They may have scrubbed voice recognition in anticipation of an iWatch-like product.
callmeed 12y ago
How certain is everyone that Apple will launch a wearable? I just don't see it personally.
- __matt 12y ago
  Right now wearables are in a pre iPhone era. I guess people are waiting for an iWatch, let's see which company delivers.
- SkyMarshal 12y ago
  It's certain, they're working on it, and have hired some of the best people in the world for things like skin sensors (blood glucose, etc).

ben1040 12y ago

Worth mentioning too that Nike has several job openings in PDX for Android engineers to work on Nike+, so clearly they're looking to shed their Apple exclusivity thus far.

smoyer 12y ago
Or perhaps their website hasn't kept up with the restructuring? On another note, why are these reports saying the engineers were "fired"? It's one thing to be let go when a project was discontinued but nobody wants the stigma of being fired on their record.
- walshemj 12y ago
  Unfortunetly a lot of people slopply use fired as an exact synonym for redundancy or layoffs Its not! One would have hoped that a suposedly jounalistic endevour would use correct language for fear of beiing sued for "professional slander"

0x0 12y ago

Interesting to note that Tim Cook is on the Nike board, while iOS8 is rumored to feature a new "healthbook" type app, plus all those iWatch rumors.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> Once Android Wear and Apple wearables start rolling out, it's going to be a slaughter out there. For Nike, its already a slaughter -- FitBit has the lion's share of the market for activity trackers, Nike was in third well behind Jawbone UP. [1] [1] http://mobihealthnews.com/28825/fitbit-jawbone-nike-had-97-percent-of-fitness-tracker-retail-sales-in-2013/ http://mobihealthnews.com/28825/fitbit-jawbone-nike-had-97-p...

Bahamut 12y ago
Those are some interesting stats, since amongst runner circles (at least here in DC), Garmins are the most popular by far. Could they be classifying these devices differently?
- amritamaz 12y ago
  I think activity trackers are classified slightly different from the GPS watch market you're perceiving Garmin to dominate. DCRainmaker says Garmin's first activity monitor device was first released in early 2014. http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/vivofit-activity-monitors.html http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/vivofit-activity-monitors...
- notatoad 12y ago
  from what i've seen of the fitness tracker market, the customers buying these aren't typically athletes, they're dieters. People buying devices to track their workouts are a smaller market than people buying wristbands to track their steps over the course of a workday. Fitbit is for people who want a record of the fact that they took the stairs instead of the elevator every day this week.
- enjo 12y ago
  Fitbit has absolutely nailed the user experience. It's incredibly simple. The battery lasts forever. Plus they've found the perfect level of gamification to make the thing a viral hit. In my social circle, at the very least, the thing has basically taken over. Everyone has one. Everyone is pushing it on their friends because they want to compete against them too. They have a really nice business going. I have to believe that is miles ahead of what Garmin is doing (which is definitely a different type of tracking).
- krschultz 12y ago
  My fiancee is a runner and I recently purchased her a Garmin GPS watch as a gift. I had originally planned to buy a FitBit, but they're just not meant for the same thing as the Garmin watch. The Garmin is useful when you are actually running to figure out your pace, distance, etc. The FitBit is more of a logging device and you don't really look at it while running. The FitBit doesn't have a screen, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a GPS.

hyp0 12y ago

I can see iWatches as a big market for a startup, or add-on for Nike - but not for Apple. The profits can't move their meter. The problem is input: Apple solved it for phones (touch screen). They tried voice-recog for shuffle iPod, but dropped it in the next iteration. If they really are making a mass-market iWatch, I think they must have solved this problem in some other way. (Glass solves it, so maybe it won't be a watch...)

thinkling 12y ago
I find it interesting that voice-reco is a primary input mechanism for both the Amazon Fire TV and Amazon's scanner gadget for their Fresh grocery delivery service. The Fire TV is not on battery power, so it's not surprising there. But the scanner wand gadget presumably doesn't have much of a CPU in it, nor does it rely on a nearby smartphone.
- hyp0 12y ago
  Yes, they claim their voice reco "really works" - I don't find it a credible claim... except that, when you have a confined univese of possible matches (e.g. grocery items), it doesn't so much have to recognise the word, as distinguish between the known candidates. For example, just counting the number of syllables can narrows it down (even identif it: yif expecting a digit, only "7" has two). And no verbs etc. Isn't the scanner online (so it can tell amazon what you ordered)? If so, I expect it uses servers, like siri and google voice. (Also processors are pretty small these days: the CPU in a phone takes up dramatically less space than the display or battery).
  - gress 12y ago
    They can back the voice recognition with mechanical Turk. If the recognizer has a lower confidence than desired they just ship the sample to a human.
robgibbons 12y ago
They may have scrubbed voice recognition in anticipation of an iWatch-like product.

callmeed 12y ago

How certain is everyone that Apple will launch a wearable? I just don't see it personally.

__matt 12y ago
Right now wearables are in a pre iPhone era. I guess people are waiting for an iWatch, let's see which company delivers.
SkyMarshal 12y ago
It's certain, they're working on it, and have hired some of the best people in the world for things like skin sensors (blood glucose, etc).