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Apple should buy them - this would be an amazing asset for their health platform.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
The profit seems to be in selling the recurring subscription to exercise videos and gamification, which Apple already offers. Seems like it would be smarter to let others take the hardware risks and have an API for other bike makers to plug into.
- tombert 5y ago
  > The profit seems to be in selling the recurring subscription to exercise videos and gamification, which Apple already offers. Sure but they would inherit the memberships that Peloton has, and if they were smart about it they would do a gradual transition towards merging the platforms, similar to how they handled Beats music IIRC.
  - geodel 5y ago
    Huh, One more kid get wrangled/stuck in bike in some tragic accident and Apple would lose ten times more than Peloton ever lost. Besides endless memes about "Killer Apple" and so on. I guess Apple would prefer to stay dumb on this thing.
    - tombert 5y ago
      That's fair; I suppose Apple has traditionally stuck with "safe" electronics, as in stuff that is unlikely to be able to kill you. It's unlikely I'll be able to do anything with my iPhone that is likely to cause me any permanent harm, at least not accidentally.
    - boringg 5y ago
      I mean aren't they looking into driverless cars? Seems like has a much greater legal risk than anything peloton could ever present.
stjohnswarts 5y ago
I think the mindset and "branding" is close enough that it would be a win for Apple. I mean their cash stockpile is ridiculous.
threeseed 5y ago
It's not really how Apple does acquisitions. They prefer smaller companies who aren't going to overwhelm the culture of the company.
- boringg 5y ago
  That's true. I was just thinking it would be an easy product to integrate into the health offering and it would be a pretty significant amount of people. Also if it was re-branded as Apple it would attract an even greater amount of people. That said I would imagine apple would need to repackage and improve the product offering so it is up to snuff.
- paxys 5y ago
  They do all kinds of acquisitions. Beats was exactly the same fit. Most of the company's value was in its branding and cultural buzz rather than actual products.
  - threeseed 5y ago
    Beats had 700 employees many of which were engineers/developers etc. 200 of them were let go before the acquisition. Peloton has 14,000 employees. 20x the size.
paxys 5y ago
Agreed, although the potential $15-20B+ acquisition price is still too steep.

The profit seems to be in selling the recurring subscription to exercise videos and gamification, which Apple already offers. Seems like it would be smarter to let others take the hardware risks and have an API for other bike makers to plug into.

tombert 5y ago
> The profit seems to be in selling the recurring subscription to exercise videos and gamification, which Apple already offers. Sure but they would inherit the memberships that Peloton has, and if they were smart about it they would do a gradual transition towards merging the platforms, similar to how they handled Beats music IIRC.
- geodel 5y ago
  Huh, One more kid get wrangled/stuck in bike in some tragic accident and Apple would lose ten times more than Peloton ever lost. Besides endless memes about "Killer Apple" and so on. I guess Apple would prefer to stay dumb on this thing.
  - tombert 5y ago
    That's fair; I suppose Apple has traditionally stuck with "safe" electronics, as in stuff that is unlikely to be able to kill you. It's unlikely I'll be able to do anything with my iPhone that is likely to cause me any permanent harm, at least not accidentally.
  - boringg 5y ago
    I mean aren't they looking into driverless cars? Seems like has a much greater legal risk than anything peloton could ever present.

stjohnswarts 5y ago

I think the mindset and "branding" is close enough that it would be a win for Apple. I mean their cash stockpile is ridiculous.

threeseed 5y ago

It's not really how Apple does acquisitions. They prefer smaller companies who aren't going to overwhelm the culture of the company.

boringg 5y ago
That's true. I was just thinking it would be an easy product to integrate into the health offering and it would be a pretty significant amount of people. Also if it was re-branded as Apple it would attract an even greater amount of people. That said I would imagine apple would need to repackage and improve the product offering so it is up to snuff.
paxys 5y ago
They do all kinds of acquisitions. Beats was exactly the same fit. Most of the company's value was in its branding and cultural buzz rather than actual products.
- threeseed 5y ago
  Beats had 700 employees many of which were engineers/developers etc. 200 of them were let go before the acquisition. Peloton has 14,000 employees. 20x the size.

paxys 5y ago

Agreed, although the potential $15-20B+ acquisition price is still too steep.