Former Nike FuelBand Consultant Jay Blahnik Confirms Apple Hiring [Update: Confirmed by AllThingsD]

Fitness expert and Nike product consultant Jay Blahnik appears to have confirmed his hiring by Apple on Twitter (via 9to5Mac). While Blahnik has been a consultant to Apple on unspecified products in the past, it now seems that he may join the company full time, potentially working on Apple's highly-rumored iWatch.

Jay_Blahnik
From a cached version of Blahnik’s personal website:

Jay has been a Nike Elite Athlete and Nike consultant for almost 20 years. He worked closely with Nike on the launch of Nike+Running, which has become the largest digital running community in the world. He was also the original creator and program developer of the Nike Training Club App, and the Nike Training Club in-gym program, which boasts over 6 million digital users. He is also a key expert and consultant for many of Nike's new Digital Sport initiatives that launched in 2012, including Nike+ Kinect Training and Nike+ FuelBand.

Last month, Apple notably hired new employees with an expertise in health sensors to work on the iWatch, including hiring personnel away from notable firms such as AccuVein and MediSensors. Apple has also been filing trademark applications on the iWatch name in a number of countries, and is reportedly looking toward a late 2014 launch for the product as it works to solve numerous technical challenges.

Update: AllThingsD confirms that Apple has hired Jay Blahnik and speculates that he will likely be working with the company's wearables team.

Popular Stories

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device. Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple Expected to Launch 20+ Products This Year: Here's the Full List

Friday January 17, 2025 5:30 am PST by
2025 promises to be quite a big year for Apple, with the company rumored to be planning more than 20 product announcements this year. Apple's rumored smart home hub will be its second all-new product to launch in as many years, following the Apple Vision Pro headset last year. And of course, we will get several new iPhone and Apple Watch models, like every year. Beyond that, Apple could...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...

Top Rated Comments

testcard Avatar
149 months ago
Bob Mansfield's new personal trainer?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gmanist1000 Avatar
149 months ago
Since it seems Apple is on the trend of GOLD lately, maybe the iWatch will look like this:

Image (http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMTg4/z/1XgAAOxycERRjSzC/$T2eC16N,!)kE9s4Z-u)nBRjSzB0PLQ~~60_35.JPG?set_id=880000500F)

No, thank you.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tbrand7 Avatar
149 months ago
This EXACT article was on Apple Insider yesterday morning. Macrumors needs to step up their game!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WardC Avatar
149 months ago
Since it seems Apple is on the trend of GOLD lately, maybe the iWatch will look like this:

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Risco Avatar
149 months ago
iWatch is now confirmed as a certainty.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dazed Avatar
149 months ago
*wonders why people want a smart watch when google glass will be here.

Maybe some people don't want to look like a complete tool.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)