In Jake B’s blog “Nike’s Big Mistake,” he mentioned that it is a terrible mistake for Nike to have their second generation of fitness tracker: FuelBand SE to only support iOS (Apple) users, seeing the fact that 80% of the global market mobile platform is Android. Jake also mentioned that relating to the things we have learnt in COMM101, this would be regarded as an operation problem in their business model.
However, I don’t entirely agree with him. I believe that there are both pros and cons in making Nike’s FuelBrand SE only available on iOS platforms. Although it does limit the number of people using fitness tracker, their target market is quite narrow to being with. Like Nike stated, “iOS users are typically consumers that are more affluent. While there are a fair number of high-end Android phones, including the HTC One or Galaxy Galaxy S4, there are also many more low-end devices purchased by consumers who may not necessarily spring $149 for a band that tracks your movement.” In addition, since Nike has such a strong brand positioning that it gained great customer loyalty over the years, they won’t loose the majority of their customers just because they subjected to only iOS platform devices.
Sources:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57607611-94/nikes-no-android-stance-on-fuelband-is-a-huge-mistake/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24538852
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