FuelBand was supposed to track exercise and health activity. FuelBand was supposed to work ?with an Apple iPhone, iPad or Droid. But for many, that wasn’t the case.
Contrary to the promotional hype, FuelBand woefully failed to live up to expectations. Those who bought it between January 2012 and June 2015 claimed it couldn’t count burned calories or track overall health activity. They took their complaints to court against Apple and Nike in a class action lawsuit. Lawyers representing the jilted customers said Apple and Nike deliberately deceived customers in their FuelBand advertisements. These lawyers also argued the companies knew about the deficiencies and did nothing to improve them and kept selling FuelBand anyway. In June 2015, a settlement was reached. Nike will pay a total of 2.4 million dollars to customers taking part in the lawsuit. Friday, members of the plaintiff were instructed through email about this settlement. Plaintiffs would either get a $15 check or $25 Nike gift card, or they could exclude themselves from the settlement altogether. However, Apple got off totally free. Apple has no liability when it comes to paying disgruntle customers or attorney fees. In November 2015, a hearing will discuss attorney fees and other fees.
Believe it or not, I see how Apple got out of this one. The failed health wristband was Nike’s. While Apple was a part of the promotion process, Nike put it’s name on FuelBand. So they should be held responsible for the damages. Nike is a multi-billion dollar entity. Two and a half million dollars isn’t going to hurt them. I‘m just glad this deal was settled out of court. This could of dragged on for a very long time and that would have done nobody any good. But is $25 per customer a good payout for this suit? Where will FuelBand rank in the biggest flops in tech history?