Nike

Spotify delivers ‘Discover Weekly’ personalized playlists and deep Nike+ Running integration

Following Apple Music introduction, Spotify has doubled down on music discovery and third-party integration, the two areas where it hopes to outsmart competition, with Monday's announcement of a Discover Weekly feature and deep integration with the Nike+ Running mobile app.

Unlike Apple's human-curated playlists for various activity types, Spotify's Discover Weekly playlists are entirely driven by algorithms and personalized to each user's listening habits, as per Re/code on Monday.

Nike CEO talks Apple Watch and Apple partnership, says new experiences coming

Nike CEO and President Mark Parker sat down with CNBC's “Squawk on the Street” for a quick interview discussing his thoughts on wearable technology, the Apple Watch and his company's partnership with the iPhone maker, confirming that new services are coming down the pipeline.

Nike, which in April 2014 announced shuttering its wearable-hardware efforts, has been collaborating with Apple on fitness wearables for years, in one form or another.

For example, the Nike+ Running iOS application is available on the Apple Watch, too, and Parker now assures us that more from Apple and Nike is yet to come.

Apple pulling Jawbone and Nike fitness devices from retail stores

Apple is halting sales of competing fitness bands, as it prepares to launch the Apple Watch next month. As noted by Recode earlier today, several Apple stores have begun pulling Jawbone and Nike devices from their shelves, and a quick search of the US web store returns similar results.

The Cupertino firm made a similar move in the fall of last year, pulling FitBit products from its shelves. This may be a bit less significant, though, given Jawbone's smaller marketshare and Nike's decision to focus its efforts on fitness software rather than produce anymore FuelBand hardware.

Nike+ FuelBand app integrated with Apple’s Health, now uses your iPhone to track movement

It only took, what, five months, but Nike's FuelBand application for the iPhone was finally refreshed Friday, adding much-needed integration with Apple's HealthKit platform. As a result, a dedicated FuelBand accessory is no longer required to track your activity or earn Fuel points, your iPhone now does this.

To reflect this change in direction, the app has been rebranded and is now being marketed as just Nike+ Fuel.

In addition to getting more insight into your activity in iOS 8's Health app, HealthKit integration makes your Fuel points visible in and accessible by other apps.

Nike+ Running now integrates with iOS 8 Health, adds elevation tracking and more

Apple CEO Tim Cook has had a seat on the Nike board for quite some time now and the sports equipment giant was first out of the gate with an app that showcased the iPhone 5s's low-powered M7 motion coprocessor. But despite close Apple ties, Nike's been suspiciously mum regarding integrating its many iOS apps with iOS 8's Health database.

That changed Tuesday as a new version of Nike+ Running got released with support for NikeFuel data sync with iOS 8's Health application. The refreshed app brings out a few other nice-to-haves, such as tracking your elevation on latest devices and more.

Nike's other iOS apps will hopefully pick up Health integration in due time. Nike+ Running is a free download in the App Store.

Nike CEO discusses collaboration with Apple on fitness wearables

Even though he stopped short of offering any specifics, Nike CEO Mark Parker in an interview Thursday with Bloomberg's Stephanie Ruhle kinda confirmed that partnering with Apple on things “we couldn’t do independently” is ”part of our plan”.

The iPhone maker recently hired a pair of engineers from Nike’s FuelBand team.

These hirings came after the media reported that Nike was significantly downsizing its wearables team and refocusing its strategy. Two months ago, the California firm made more high-profile hires as Ben Shaffer, Nike’s design director for wearables, and the widely recognized fitness expert and key Nike FuelBand developer, Jay Blahnik, both joined the Apple team.

Now Director of Fitness, Health Technologies at Apple, Blahnik can be seen explaining the benefits of Apple Watch in Apple's Health and Fitness promotional video.

Nike releases new Soccer for iPhone app

It's interesting that although Adidas is the official sponsor of the world's greatest sporting spectacle that is the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Nike has managed to hijack the event and successfully steal Adidas' thunder with clever marketing tactics.

Part of Nike's stealthy yet effective approach is a new iPhone app dedicated to all things soccer.

Called Nike Soccer in the United States (the name is localized in other markets), it strives to put the best of soccer in your pocket by sending you timely alerts on upcoming events while keeping you connected to the world of Nike products and athletes.

The name of the game is exclusivity: Nike Soccer delivers premium content and provides access to limited product and events before any of Nike's other channels...

Apple picks up two engineers from Nike’s FuelBand team

A few months ago, word got out that Nike was significantly downsizing its FuelBand team. The company's CEO later confirmed the move, saying that it would be transitioning the focus of its FuelBand project from hardware to software.

The news sparked speculation that the strategy shift had something to do with Apple's rumored wearable, and today more fuel was added to that fire. Apparently the iPad-maker has added two ex-FuelBand engineers to its iWatch team...

Nike CEO talks new focus on software for wearables, excited about future with Apple

Following the news last week that Nike is gearing up to shutter its wearable hardware efforts, CEO Mark Parker appeared on CNBC today to talk about the new direction. Parker says the company's goal is to expand the FuelBand system, and that software and strategic partnerships will help them with that.

Obviously, he couldn't say anything directly about the rumors that Nike is teaming up with Apple on a product, but Parker did note that the two companies have been working together for a long time. And when pressed about the speculation, he said that [Nike] is 'excited' about the future of the relationship...

Rumor: Apple, Nike developing sensor-laden fitness band that controls other devices via gestures

File this one under the 'Obvious' (or is it?) tab. According to a new report Tuesday by Geektime, citing sources familiar with their plans, Apple and Nike have banded together to secretly engineer a new smartband said to have been scheduled for a major announcement this Fall.

Needless to say, Geekwire doesn't have an established track record in terms of rumors so you need to take the story with a grain of salt. Of course, such a notion just makes lots of sense on many levels.

As a reminder, CNET learned last week that Nike is in the process of shuttering its wearable-hardware division that produces FuelBand-branded accessories. These things are worn on one's wrist, track one's health and fitness data and work in conjunction with a companion iPhone app.

The sportswear company reportedly let go the majority of the team responsible for the development of FuelBand hardware as it reportedly concentrates its efforts on a secretive collaboration with Apple...

Nike gives up on the FuelBand, making more room for the iWatch

Nick Statt, reporting for CNET:

Nike is gearing up to shutter its wearable-hardware efforts, and the sportswear company this week fired the majority of the team responsible for the development of its FuelBand fitness tracker, a person familiar with the matter told CNET.

As early as this fall, Nike planned on releasing another iteration of the FuelBand -- an even slimmer version -- but cancelled the project, and it appears to have shelved all future physical product projects under the Digital Sport helm, the person familiar with the matter added.

One might argue it never really made sense for a shoe maker to build hardware. Still, it's an interesting move, at an interesting time, especially when you know Tim Cook is on Nike's board.

Nike+ Move gains better Leaderboards and more accurate Where You Moved screen

I frequently use Nike's fitness app, Move for iPhone, which made its App Store debut in early-November. Apple highlighted Nike+ Move during the September double-iPhone event as a use case scenario on how health and fitness apps can benefit by taking advantage of the new M7 motion coprocessor found inside the iPhone 5s. Not only does Nike+ Move tracks your movement even when it's inactive - with little to no impact on your battery life - it really gets you moving on a daily basis.

Beautiful and light iOS design, nicely animated interface, easy to grasp features and inviting concept together made me fall in love with the software from day one. A fresh update which just surfaced on the App Store is now introducing a more comprehensive Leaderboards and a more accurate Where You Moved screen...