Peloton Heart Rate Band To Take The Company Beyond Bikes And Treadmills
Peloton is a name that has been making headlines in the past months in both good and bad ways. Its popularity skyrocketed during the pandemic when home exercise equipment and programs became trendy. Its name, however, was dragged into infamy due to several accidents and a few deaths around that very same equipment. Now the exercise equipment and fitness media company is seemingly ready to break out into a new but related market, with a Heart Rate Band that will mark its first venture into wearables.
That Peloton would venture into wearables wasn't really a question of if but of when. The company has been spotted acquiring smaller businesses that specialized in wearables or voice assistants, suggesting its interest in providing more than just a smartphone app. The timeframe for its first wearable is still an open question but Bloomberg has spotted clues to some of its capabilities and forms.
According to the report, Peloton's Heart Rate Band will focus on measuring the intensity of a workout and tie into the company's heart-rate zones to provide feedback. In addition, the band will supposedly have a small screen for displaying the battery level and when it's in pairing mode with a Peloton bike or treadmill, but there is no mention of other features you'd expect from smart fitness bands these days.
The appearance and form of the band are still being kept under wraps, but Mark Gurman says the images buried in Peloton's iPhone and iPad apps point to small and large sizes for the wearables. The device will also connect with phones, tablets, and even TVs via Bluetooth and can receive firmware updates to expand its functionality.
This Peloton Heart Rate Band won't be competing against the likes of the Apple Watch or even Fitbit's myriad fitness trackers, however. It instead seems more like an add-on for the Peloton bikes and treadmills you might be interested in buying to augment the experience. That said, even Gurman says that there is a possibility the device doesn't launch at all and could be one of the company's internal experiments to test the waters of new ventures.