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Sports Equipment and Social Media Converge, Business and Industry Trends Analysis

As people spend more and more time on social media sites and apps, it is not surprising that they would interact with friends and others while exercising or playing team sports.  Equipment makers have an excellent opportunity to build hardware and software into their products in a way that will enable users to connect with others.
An excellent example is Peloton Interactive, Inc., which is a stationary bike and treadmill designer and producer of live-streaming, instructional indoor classes.  While the firm sells its highly popular, proprietary equipment, its real business model is based around subscription fees paid by users of those bikes.  The firm’s virtual cycling classes initially revolved around the in-house designed, Peloton Bike.  The Peloton Bike is a sophisticated, carbon steel and aluminum stationary bike that is integrated with a 21.5-inch full HD 1080p, wireless-ready, Bluetooth-ready, touchscreen console.  The console includes two stereo speakers and a front-facing camera.  The interface allows the bike’s rider to participate in studio cycling classes with highly qualified instructors, from the comfort and convenience of the rider’s own home and own schedule.  The result is a very high quality, boutique-style fitness class delivered via live streaming to the home.  Through their monthly subscription fee, users of the Peloton Bike have access to a variety of classes covering various moods and styles.  Additionally, there are over ten daily live rides streamed from the firm’s NYC studio, whereby a user can ride along with a real class, as well as thousands of on-demand rides users can access through the Peloton Bike’s interactive console, filtered by instructor, type, length, difficulty or as previously saved favorite rides.  More recently, Peloton launched the Peloton Tread treadmill for running classes and the Peloton Guide, which superimposes images of the user lifting weights along with data about reps performed, calories and effort expended alongside the televised class coach.
Other exercise/social media combinations include the Fitbit community and Nike+.  These communities unite people, who use wearable sensors to track their activities, with apps and web sites where they can compare distances and intensities, share nutrition and diet information and cheer each other on.  Many other firms now offer compelling workout equipment with access to digital classes embedded.


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