Shane Cole
Nike has allegedly lost one of its top designers, as the director of the shoe and apparel company's research and development studio, responsible for the FuelBand fitness tracker, has reportedly left Beaverton for Cupertino.
While customers and investors clamor for Apple to enter the wearable devices category and speculation about an "iWatch" mounts, the iPhone maker has snapped up another subject matter expert, according to 9to5mac. Ben Shaffer, formerly the Studio Director of Nike's Innovation Kitchen, the research and development laboratory that created the popular Fuel Band fitness tracker and lightweight Flynit running shoe, has reportedly taken up a new position at Apple.
Shaffer's departure, if true, comes just months after Apple reportedly hired another of the top minds behind the Fuel Band, fitness expert Jay Blahnik. The two hires, when placed next to other recent enlistments from the "non-invasive medical sensor" field, point to a significant increase of interest in wearable technology inside 1 Infinite Loop.
It remains to be seen whether the defections will alter the notoriously close relationship of collaboration between the two companies. Apple has long included Nike+ integration with its iPod and iPhone lines, and Nike was granted early access to update its apps to take advantage of the iPhone 5s's M7 motion coprocessor.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
14 Comments
AppleInsider, just because another site writes "poaches" please, please, please use some thought about what is going then write accordingly. Tim Cook remains on the Nike board while hiring Nike employees for Apple to assist Apple with some type of biometric wearable device. THIS fact pretty much negates the sensationalistic "poaching" term written in the title of this article. It is beyond obvious Nike is aware of the hires. Since Nike's new iPhone app was the only app demoed at the iPhone announcement that took advantage of the new M7 processor it is "beyond obvious" Apple and Nike are collaborating on technology in a manner that is mutually beneficial to both companies. Step up the investigative reporting please!
leavingthebigg poaches data from different sources
Apple: Thinking outside of the Infinitive Loop. If you think about it, Nike made electronics to sell shoes. It makes sense for Apple to take over that function and feed information back to Nike so they can sell more shoes. This way both companies do what they do best and support each other's merchandise markets. It's win-win-WIN...
While customers and investors clamor for Apple to enter the wearable devices category
I don't remember ever hearing that people actually wanted Apple to be in the wearable devices category. I thought there was just speculation that Apple might make something.
This guy's title at Nike was "Studio Director, Innovation Kitchen"... With a title like that, I'm willing to bet he was a freelancer or similar contract labor. In other words, he wasn't "poached", he would've left for a better offer with Apple depending on the terms of his agreement with Nike. The design business is dominated by talented freelancers. Think of it like the movie business, where virtually all people are labor for hire on projects, there are no real "employees" in the traditional sense.