By Jamie Barrie N ot the high-profile publicity Nike was looking for as competition heats up for U.S. College basketball’s March Madness. Everyone’s eyes were on NBA’s No. 1 basketball prospect and Duke University star, Zion William- son for the nationally televised prime-time game against Duke archrival North Carolina. But all the attention came just 33 seconds in to the game when Williamson’s Nike PG 2.5, more or less disintegrated causing the star to lose his footing during the live televised NCAA game, injuring the NBA’s No. 1 basketball prospect. Thankfully for Williamson and Duke it was just a mild sprain, but the damage has been a lot worse for Nike. This is just the recent problem that Nike is having with the company’s latest smart sneaker causing athletes, customers and investors alike to question
the latest innovation by Nike as this is not the com- pany’s only shoe-related mishap of late. Nike’s high-profile smart sneakers, the Air Adapt BB, launched in February offering new technology that allowed wearers a laced sneaker that you do not have to tie, but rather owners of the $350 US battery-powered sneakers could connect to an app on their smartphone to log in and adjust the fit. However, customers who use Android phones to connect with their shoes have been having issues with the app which doesn’t connect with the shoes as promised, making them impossible to tighten. Nike is telling customers that they are aware of the issue and are actively working on a solution and that they apologize for any inconvenience. For now, I will stick with Air Jordan lace ups as they have never let me down, even if I still can’t dunk or a free throw for that matter.
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MARCH 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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