Nike CEO Mark Parker was on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" today and touched on the future of the Fuel Band just one week after it was reported that between 70 to 80 percent of Nike's Fuel Band department was let go.
Parker emphasized that the Digital Sport category is significantly important to the future of the company and said more Nike products will be integrated with a digital experience. "Our goal is to actually increase the number of users, those that can actually experience Nike Fuel and the Fuel system that we have, as well as other applications. So you're going to continue to see us commit to this area, to focus on expanding the reach," said Parker.
Nike currently has about 30 million Fuel Band users and Parker hopes to grow this user base to over 100 million through strategic partnerships. It's Nike's relationship with Apple that many believe will allow the Swoosh to grow in the department of wearable technology.
While Parker didn't go into specifics about Apple, he did mention that Nike plans to focus more on the software side of its Digital Sport category and expand partnerships to help grow Nike Fuel's reach.
Parker also briefly discussed the sneaker factory strike in China, saying, "We take it very seriously, and we're hoping that this can be resolved very quickly." Despite this, though, he believes Nike is in a position to minimize the impact of the strike because of its diverse source base of over 700 factories.
[via CNBC]
