It is even better than that. Nike's core competence isn't shoes, it is marketing an image of sportsmen as an attractive lifestyle. If you make something for that lifestyle, their core competence is marketing you. That is why sales doubled: "serious sportsmen use software" blasted out of their megaphone makes sports software as a category instantly more valuable.
Logistics is often forgotten when core competencies are listed.
I'm not sure about Nike, but generally in fashion/retail the key to success seems to be a combination of brand management and strict control of logistics chain. Obvious cases: H&M, Ikea.
The author makes a good assumption. Nokia did something similar recently with Nokia Sports Tracker. It was one of the most popular Symbian apps ever but was killed because it was never a priority to them. "After two and a half years of operation, the Nokia Sports Tracker beta service was closed on June 30, 2010" http://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts
This is precisely why I enjoyed hearing our main competitor received $5 million in a series A. It instantly validated the market, and it will do nothing but create opportunities for us.
Since our software is fitness tracking, that same good news applies to RunKeeper as well! MapMyFitness, no matter how much money they get, won't be able to keepup with small, agile development teams like FitnessKeeper, ridewithgps, CycleMeter etc.
