Nike Is Trying To Tamp Down Rumors That The FuelBand Is Dead

R/GA

Yesterday we noted that Nike had laid off 55 of its 70-person hardware team, a move that looks like it will kill the popular Nike FuelBand personal fitness tracking product.

Today, Re/code has a statement from Nike that undercuts that report:

"The Nike+ FuelBand SE remains an important part of our business," the company said in a statement emailed to Re/code. "We will continue to improve the Nike+ FuelBand App, launch new METALUXE colors, and we will sell and support the Nike+ FuelBand SE for the foreseeable future."

"We will continue to leverage partnerships to expand our ecosystem of digital products and services, using NikeFuel as the universal currency for measuring, motivating and improving," the company said on Friday.

As Re/code then notes, that's not a categorical denial of the original report that the FuelBand was in its death throes. (If the unit is doing so well, why are most of its staff being let go?)

The news broke when an anonymous person who claims to be a Nike insider began discussing the dismantling of the business on Secret, the gossip app.