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Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

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151–160 of 353 posts

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#151
post #62

Did Peloton ever have a real business. They were competing with $200 bikes on Amazon and an iPad.

The bikes were secondary to them being a media company. I wouldn't be surprised if they sold those bikes at a loss. I am not in their club, but their instructors were celebrities with celebrity-sized followings.

Even if people entirely stopped buying their bikes, they could be be acquired just for their content and brand.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#152
post #17

Is it just me or is $40 a month too much for the content they provide? I would spend a couple thousand on fancy exercise equipment, or maybe get one as a gift for my parents but the required subscription gives me rent seeking vibes.

I have the Tread, and I'm on the verge of cancelling my subscription. The $40 would be worth it if I was into the classes, but I tried them for a while and switched back to listening to podcasts while I run.

It's disappointing to have such nice hardware that's so limited--can't watch youtube or listen to music directly on the device, no built in interval training, no way to pause a run... Now that I think about it, it's one of the least-capable treadmills I've ever owned.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#153
post #114
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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.

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.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take HN's hive mind tech bro culture, and apply it to overpriced classes that are basically a youtube video.

If you have even the tiniest bit of curiosity, there are users, on this very page, describing how it’s much much more than a “YouTube video”.

Of course, It is more than a "Youtube video" who are part of Peloton cult.

It would be rather normal if cult members never describe cult as "Oh it is just a typical cult with some suspicious ideology, providing dubious benefits and led by a charismatic charlatan"

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#155
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Zoom here to stay or is video conferencing here to stay? Google Meets and MS Teams are pretty good and built into their respective Office suite products.

Every time I see I have a meeting with MS Teams, I get annoyed. - Most of the time, people don't setup a dialin number, so I can't use my phone - There's no way to display both the attendees list and the chat at the same time Those are two examples of things that just cause it to be an "also ran" in my mind. It's just missing a lot of the "nice to have" features; much the way Zoom did when it was first release... it…

This is completely personal preference and I would never enforce it, but I hate when people dial in to a video conference or other meeting. Even when the camera is off, having 10 people on a call but 15 attendees that include a bunch of random phone numbers, combined with not having any idea who is speaking if you don't know everyone's voice by heart, makes it a very suboptimal experience.

If everyone had a nice camera, nice microphone, and nice headphones (I think all three of these should be provided by employers to remote workers), and just used the video conferencing software the way it was designed, a lot of the friction and annoyances would go away.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#156
post #17

Is it just me or is $40 a month too much for the content they provide? I would spend a couple thousand on fancy exercise equipment, or maybe get one as a gift for my parents but the required subscription gives me rent seeking vibes.

No, it's ridiculously overpriced for the equipment and content. Buy a real bike and go outside. It's way more interesting and better for you. If you HAVE to stay inside for bad weather or something get a trainer for that bike. There are several youtube channels/patreon channels that film their mountain-biking/road biking and you can put those on and feel like you're riding along if you need that aspect. I feel like t…

Interesting take but while there is some argument to be made for being outside... Cycling outside is not always better for you. Many people live in urban areas where cycling outside is dangerous and objectively worse for you due to fumes from cars.

I've lived in rural areas where biking outside was great and in cities where biking was prioritized but I've also lived in many places where biking outside put myself at a much higher risk of being injured than biking inside. Especially at night after work which is when many exercise.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#157
post #17

Is it just me or is $40 a month too much for the content they provide? I would spend a couple thousand on fancy exercise equipment, or maybe get one as a gift for my parents but the required subscription gives me rent seeking vibes.

We initially bought a cheaper Schwinn IC4, subscribed to the Peloton app ($12.99/month), and used our 7 year-old iPad to get nearly the same experience (minus the Leaderboard functionality and probably other things). Eventually we wondered why we were even spending $12.99/month on it, as my partner only had a few instructors that she liked, and neither of us could understand, or get behind, the "Peloton culture". We…

Exactly, paying more for the content to motivate one to ride seems like an extravagance when one could, y'know, just ride the bike.

+1 for the IC4, it seems like a much better piece of kit than it had a right to be at the (pre/early pandemic) price point - like $800 IIRC.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#159
post #17

Is it just me or is $40 a month too much for the content they provide? I would spend a couple thousand on fancy exercise equipment, or maybe get one as a gift for my parents but the required subscription gives me rent seeking vibes.

We initially bought a cheaper Schwinn IC4, subscribed to the Peloton app ($12.99/month), and used our 7 year-old iPad to get nearly the same experience (minus the Leaderboard functionality and probably other things). Eventually we wondered why we were even spending $12.99/month on it, as my partner only had a few instructors that she liked, and neither of us could understand, or get behind, the "Peloton culture". We…

I don't have an indoor bike, but I'd probably save money by playing one of these cycling YouTube videos in the background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAYaLDjmVt8

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#160
post #17

Is it just me or is $40 a month too much for the content they provide? I would spend a couple thousand on fancy exercise equipment, or maybe get one as a gift for my parents but the required subscription gives me rent seeking vibes.

No, it's ridiculously overpriced for the equipment and content. Buy a real bike and go outside. It's way more interesting and better for you. If you HAVE to stay inside for bad weather or something get a trainer for that bike. There are several youtube channels/patreon channels that film their mountain-biking/road biking and you can put those on and feel like you're riding along if you need that aspect. I feel like t…

I have had my Peloton for a year now. I use it every day. It has transformed my health and my relationship w fitness.

When I am on vacation I do Peloton audio based outdoor runs to keep my Peloton workout streak alive.

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