Ahead of its launch of the Apple Watch, the Apple Store has removed many of the competing fitness wearables from its shelves.
Re/code checked several popular Apple Stores in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, and New York, and found that Apple had ceased carrying the Jawbone UP and the Nike+ Fuelband.
The Jawbone and Nike fitness trackers are also no longer available through Apple’s online store, although the company is still selling non-wrist worn trackers, such as the Jawbone UP Move and the Wahoo TICKR X Heart Rate Monitor, both online and in their stores.
Following the Apple Watch announcement last fall, Apple yanked Fitbit’s lineup of activity trackers from their shelves.
The Mio, a heart rate-tracking device worn on the wrist, can only be found in Apple’s online store.
Re/code reports that Apple informed Mio founder Liz Dickinson that her company’s devices would be removed from the Apple Store due to an effort to re-work branding for the stars.
“They said they brought in a new executive in the marketing area who wanted to re-work branding for the stores, and to make the Apple brand more front and center and clean up and minimize the number of accessories,” Dickinson said.
The Apple Watch is due to hit the Apple Store’s shelves on April 10. Customers will be allowed to try out the wearable devices in the stores ahead of their April 24 launch date. Pre-orders for the device begin April 10.
