The wearables device market can be tough.
A
recent study showed that interest around wearable devices focused on health and fitness, at least in terms of what kinds of information consumers want from their devices.
Fitness devices that
are launched to serve those needs won’t be coming from Adidas.
Adidas is somewhat backing out of wearables, as it shutters its Digital Sports business unit, the group that develops the
company’s wearables tech.
“To further drive our digital transformation and win the consumer in this dynamic business environment, we have redefined our strategic approach towards
digital, sharpening our focus on digital experiences,” an Adidas spokesperson told me. “In this context, we decided to discontinue running a stand-alone digital sports organization.
Instead we are integrating digital across all areas of our business and will continue to grow our digital expertise, but in a more integrated way.”
This essentially means that Adidas is
going to spread its wearables activities into other areas of the company and stop making wearable devices themselves.
“One example of how we are planning to sharpen our focus on digital
experiences is consolidating the adidas app eco-system and discontinue All Day,” said the spokesperson. “We will focus our efforts on two powerful brand platforms, Runtastic and the adidas
App in an effort to create the best digital experience for our consumer.”
Adidas does have a deal with Fitbit, so the idea of Adidas totally walking away from wearables is not happening.
At least right now.