Adidas is shutting down its dedicated digital sports division

Adidas, the multinational sportswear manufacturer, is getting out of the wearable fitness industry. It is shuttering its digital sports organization and reshuffling the remainder of its digital efforts. The company will be centering its efforts instead to focus on software, specifically, the Adidas App and Runtastic which it bought back in 2015. This won’t affect Adidas’ partnership with Fitbit to release an athlete-focused version of the Ionic smartwatch in 2018. Adidas had released multiple wearable fitness trackers under the name miCoach, but it seems that none of them really quite took off.

In a statement, the company said that it will redefine its strategic approach towards digital, sharpening its focus on digital experiences to further drive its digital transformation and win the consumer in this dynamic business environment. Stacey Burr, General Manager of Digital Sports at Adidas commented, “We’re not going to see a new running watch from Adidas for a while. There will be some additional hardware in the future that we’re very excited about but we’re looking, on the running side, at how we can bring our algorithms and coaching and training plans to other device platforms, in addition to Smart Run.”

The decision to close the Digital Sports unit will impact 74 staff positions, including data scientists, experience designers, algorithm developers, and software and hardware engineers. Positions in other parts of the company will be sought for those affected.