Peloton’s recent round of acquisitions hints at a possible smartwatch or at the very least points to new artificial intelligence (AI) features for its existing exercise equipment.
A Peloton Smartwatch: A Farfetched Idea?
The relevant acquisitions include the world’s largest mobile app action library Aiqudo, a company called Otari, which has made an interactive workout mat complete with its own screen and AI coaching, and the major fitness sensor company Atlas Wearables.
While many current fitness trackers and smartwatches support weight training, they rarely excel at counting accurately how many reps of which exercise you’ve done. But as well-informed Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman notes, Atlas is especially interesting because its sensors can accurately record workouts involving weights and bodyweight moves.
He mentions other possibilities, too:
The deals give Peloton technology to potentially build new hardware and services, expanding on its bikes, treadmills and existing software. The deals could help the company offer its own digital voice assistant, for instance. The engineers who joined from Atlas Wearables and Otari say on their LinkedIn profiles that they are focusing on AI and computer-vision technology.
The Atlas acquisition includes a rich database of exercise based on the actual movements of personal trainers from a wide variety of activity types, similar to Apple Fitness+.
Gizmodo posits Peloton may want to build its own smartwatch to address the problem of unreliable fitness tracking for strength or weight training on existing products.
For some, like the Apple Watch, these activities just record your heart rate and duration, with calorie burn calculated based on a combination of other metrics. This is one of the biggest gaps in fitness tracking as most available wearables are more suited to tracking cardio or recovery-based activities and metrics.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Peloton will actually build a wearable device of its own. The company could use these acquired technologies and know-how to make improvements to its existing software features, like automatic workout detection or remote group training similar to Peloton’s recently-introduced new Sessions feature.
Other possibilities include AI coaching and digital trainers to assist you during workouts.
Peloton vs. Apple Watch vs. Others
Provided Peloton is interested in building a fitness smartwatch of its own, its recent $420 million acquisition deal with Precor could come in handy as that transaction includes the company’s 100-member research and development team.
Peloton, along with several other major companies that sell gym equipment, takes advantage of Apple’s GymKit framework for third-party developers and device makers. This lets users instantly sync native workout data between any GymKit-enabled Peloton machine and their Apple Watch to provide the most accurate readings possible.
Granted, this is all speculation but there’s no denying Peloton’s been shoring up its technical expertise with some of the recent deals. And given the inroads Apple and other Silicon Valley giants have made and continue to make in the world of fitness, the company may be forced to come out with its own hardware as a defense strategy.
At the very least, users should be in for tighter integration and AI-driven software features.