Apple has confirmed to The New York Times that Jay Blahnik, the company’s vice president of Fitness Technologies, will retire in July. Here are the details.
Jay Blahnik to retire after 13 years at Apple
The New York Times reports that “Jay Blahnik, Apple’s vice president of fitness technologies, is retiring this summer […],” ending his 13-year run at Apple.
When Blahnik joined Apple in 2013, most assumed he would be involved with the Apple Watch, which hadn’t yet been announced.
That was partly correct, as Blahnik’s contributions went beyond the Apple Watch. Despite being credited for coming up with the device’s Activity Rings, he also oversaw the development of Apple Fitness+ subscription service, which launched in 2020.
Here’s a 2022 video of Blahnik giving iJustine a tour of the Apple Fitness+ studio:
More recently, however, things took a turn. Last August, The New York Times reported that “along the way, Mr. Blahnik created a toxic work environment, said nine current and former employees who worked with or for Mr. Blahnik and spoke about personnel issues on the condition of anonymity.”
In the report, the Times’ sources claimed that his behavior “contributed to decisions by more than 10 workers to seek extended mental health or medical leaves of absence since 2022, about 10 percent of the team.”
The report goes on to detail multiple instances in which employees say Blahnik behaved inappropriately, including allegations of verbal abuse, sexual remarks, and retaliation, and at least one instance in which Apple settled a complaint alleging sexual harassment.
Since then, Blahnik remained largely away from the spotlight, while an internal Apple investigation reportedly “found no evidence of wrongdoing.”
Today, however, the NYT reported:
In an email to employees this week, Apple said Mr. Blahnik, 57, will retire in July “to spend time with his family and make an exciting move to New York City.”
Apple has yet to confirm whether the company will seek someone else to replace him as vice president of Fitness Technologies, or if his duties will be redistributed among existing executives.
Last November, Bloomberg reported that the future of Apple Fitness+ was “under review,” as it remained one of the company’s “weakest digital offerings.”
At the time, Mark Gurman said the division would get new management, with Apple health head Sumbul Desai adding Fitness+ to her portfolio as part of a broader reorganization after Eddy Cue took over the company’s health and fitness teams.
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