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veeco3110

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2007
329
141
brick nj
as much as I never saw the fad of peloton as more than a social media flaunt, it somewhat makes sense. Peloton has nearly 6 million users with paid subscriptions. Those are potentially more people for apple to use for their subscription service to get people into their eco system. The users already have the hardware, so what are you going to do? Stop exercising because you have a Samsung Phone? No, you’ll pay foe the service you already were paying for Or sell the equipment you have.
 

crsh1976

macrumors 68000
Jun 13, 2011
1,576
1,784
I can see how Peloton shareholders would love this, too.

Tho why would Apple want to deal with handling hardware and sales issues along the way is up in the air, it's no small factor.
 

DavidLeblond

macrumors 68020
Jan 6, 2004
2,325
606
Raleigh, NC
As a Peloton user (but not owner) I bet if Apple bought them and just took their instructors (and along with that, some of their formatting) they'd probably add a big chunk to Fitness+. If you look at any Peloton forums, the users aren't talking about the bikes, they're all talking about the classes and their favorite instructors.
 

brill_bill

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2021
7
3
I can see how Peloton shareholders would love this, too.

Tho why would Apple want to deal with handling hardware and sales issues along the way is up in the air, it's no small factor.

What's the largest/heaviest thing Apple have ever shipped? Because I assume even that isn't comparable to shipping treadmills and exercise bikes to consumers.
 

sw1tcher

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
5,456
18,993
Deepwater Asset Management's annual forecast for 2024 (via Connect the Watts) says that Apple is likely to acquire Peloton sometime this year. The move would help Apple bolster its Fitness+ subscription service, adding workout equipment to compliment the Apple Watch and its existing activity tracking software. Absorbing Peloton's subscriber base of three-million users would ostensibly add about $1.7 billion to Apple's subscription revenue and line up with its continued investment in health and wellness, the company claims.
Add 3 million subscribers and $1.7 billion to Apple's subscription revenue while also resulting in an annual net loss of over $1 billion for Apple.

Peloton's net loss for fiscal year* 2023 was $1.262 billion. Their net loss for fiscal year* 2022 was $2.828 billion. Even during the height of the pandemic when everyone was stuck at home and buying all sorts of useless junk, Peloton managed to post a net loss of $189 million for fiscal year* 2021 and a net loss of $72 million for fiscal year* 2020.

* Peloton's fiscal year ends June 30
 

PsykX

macrumors 68020
Sep 16, 2006
2,415
3,169
Probably a good purchase.
It must be really undervalued with all these problems in the last 2-3 years...
 

Black0ut21

macrumors newbie
Sep 17, 2015
13
15
I see it happening but just to kill off HW Side or spin that side off they buy it for the instructors and classes
 

stuuke

macrumors regular
Apr 19, 2004
229
7
I've never understood the Peloton model. Charge more than anyone else for hardware and then charge a high monthly fee. I was paying $12.99 for the app and using my own treadmill. If you bought from Peloton you were paying $45 a month. You'd think they would incentivize purchasing the hardware with cheaper subscriptions. They did double the price of the app this year for non-hardware owners but you're still paying almost double if you own a Peloton. Doubling the app price with no added value just pissed off all of the app users. They do a lot of questionable stuff for something that seems like it would be a pretty straightforward company to run.
 

Jws

macrumors regular
Aug 16, 2013
199
127
AR
I love my Peloton equipment a lot but especially the instructors. If Apple or anyone else buys them, I hope they don’t make too many changes. I like the explicit playlists and that everything isn’t sanitized. I didn’t enjoy Apple Fitness as much when I tried it.
 

victorvictoria

macrumors 6502
Oct 15, 2023
457
526
Once upon a time, there was a legenday investor/fund manager. His name was Peter Lynch, who ran the Magellan Fund for Fidelity Investments. It was the largest mutual fund in the world, and under his stewardship, the fund outperformed the S&P 500 index every single year, over 10 years. Net of expenses, no less!

He wrote a book called "One Up On Wall Street," which should be the equivalent of a bible for any investor, large of small. In it, he coined a term for companies trying to grow earnings through acquisitions, particularly of companies outside their core competencies. Apple buying Peloton would be a perfect example.

He called it, "diWORSEification."
 

toph2toast

macrumors 6502a
Feb 24, 2011
787
687
If I was Apple, if I bought Peloton I would liquidate the hardware side and merge the rest with Apple Fitness Plus. I never got the appeal of peloton, the bikes and treadmills are insanely expensive and then you have to pay the subscription to get the service anyway? Fitness plus you just pay the subscription for the classes and you can use any hardware, much more convenient especially if you plan on using it in a gym. Plus, if Apple did this they’d be absolutely dominant in video fitness classes.

I agree that the Peloton equipment is expensive, but they have tried (and been failing big time recently) to position themselves as a premium product in the marketplace, just like Apple. One could argue iPhones and Macbooks are expensive compared to their Android/Microsoft counterparts, then almost every user of them pays for Apple Music/Apple One/some other sort of subscription.
 

Robert.Walter

macrumors 68040
Jul 10, 2012
3,099
4,406
I see this as happy talk attempting to raise P’s share price or lower P’s borrowing costs.
 

toph2toast

macrumors 6502a
Feb 24, 2011
787
687
Pelaton's biggest mistake was just fleecing their most loyal customers. I bought a bike in the lockdown times, and it was great. Insanely overpriced, but the hardware was nice enough, and the classes were great. It was to the point where I was considering a second bike so my wife and I could ride at the same time...but guess what? Your subscription is tied to each piece of hardware. What a joke. $40/mo extra just for the occasion that two people will be riding a $2600 (each) bike at the same time.

Meanwhile, the app subscription is 9.99/mo with family sharing and you could buy similar bike hardware with tracking linked to Apple health for $1k.

Just insane. They could have sold more bikes/more treads, kept their overpriced hardware at the same price, and retained more users. And to rub salt in the wounds, they drop the bike price by over $1k.

Now I have the bike without a subscription and installed hulu on the tablet using ADB.

Apple should stay far away from this company, anyone with any semblance of how to run a fitness service has left for greener pastures at this point, you are just acquiring the corporate shills now.

Not trying to be a jerk by saying this, but this is 100% false. I have a Peloton bike and a tread in my house that both my wife and I use. We only pay for 1 subscription and there are multiple times that she's on the tread and I'm on the bike.

Furthermore, Peloton inked a deal with Hilton so now almost every Hilton hotel has a bike and I can log into my account on that bike to ride (not tied to the piece of hardware at my house).
 

toph2toast

macrumors 6502a
Feb 24, 2011
787
687
Wow, really? What a joke!

I'm sorry, but who at Peloton thought it would be a wise idea not to allow you to just pay one subscription fee and then have as many of their bikes and treads, but instead pay a separate subscription fee FOR EACH ONE?

That right there is making having Fitness+ instead of Peloton all the more appealing

Feel free to take a look at my reply to that comment. You can use 1 subscription on multiple pieces of hardware, even if you don't own it.
 

crsh1976

macrumors 68000
Jun 13, 2011
1,576
1,784
What's the largest/heaviest thing Apple have ever shipped? Because I assume even that isn't comparable to shipping treadmills and exercise bikes to consumers.
Even large-scale deployments back when Apple sold xServe racks probably isn't close given volumes are comparatively low to consumer products like Peloton bikes and threadmills, in terms of logistics it sounds to me like a totally different ball game.
 

JitteryJimmy

macrumors regular
Apr 12, 2008
189
289
As Peloton changes to become a more viable business, they are sure to upset many of their existing customers. Services will change and go away. Old hardware will be abandoned, or re-monetized.

Apple would be wise to avoid angering existing Peloton customers, and the easiest way to do so would be to stay far, far away.

The only thing Apple could do that is a benefit to Apple is to buy a slice of Peloton's business. I don't think Peloton investors would be very happy about that.
 

toph2toast

macrumors 6502a
Feb 24, 2011
787
687
Not sure if this would be a deal-breaker when it comes to an acquisition, but all of the Peloton screens run on Android. My understanding is that Apple Fitness+ only works on  devices.
 
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