Peloton’s rowing machine, one of many firm’s worst-kept secrets of the past two years, is coming quickly.
Not too quickly—it is going to ship someday in December, and the corporate isn’t sharing extra particulars past that. Starting at present, although, the Peloton Row is formally obtainable for preorder. It’s the newest {hardware} announcement from the connected-fitness firm, whose destiny has been in query ever since a brand new chief government took over earlier this yr and began enacting streamlining and cost-cutting measures.
The Peloton Row joins a product lineup that features expensive, internet-connected bikes and treadmills with built-in touchscreens; a set-top box with a camera that tracks your physique actions throughout strength-training exercises; and an app expertise for which Peloton prices wherever from $13 to $44 a month, relying on which gadget you’re utilizing it on. Since the corporate’s inception, Peloton has all the time charged a premium. But even with that context, the Peloton Row’s value is eyebrow-raising: $3,195. And that’s only for the rower itself, which doesn’t embrace the $44 month-to-month cost to stream Peloton movies.
“We’re pricing it for what it is. It is truly a premium experience, and it’s priced as a premium experience,” says Tom Cortese, a Peloton cofounder and the chief product officer of the corporate. “I mean, this is a conversation we’ve had a lot over 10 years. When we came to the market with the Peloton bike, I used to hear, ‘I could buy a bike for $250 on Amazon.’ Great, go buy a bike for $250 on Amazon. The value of Peloton Row is, we believe, unparalleled in the market.”
The marketplace for fashionable rowers that Cortese is referring to contains Hydrow rowers, which begin at $1,495 for the Hydrow Wave and edges near $2,500 for a higher-end mannequin, in addition to the Echelon Row-S (which begins at $1,599) and the NordicTrack RW900 ($1,799). These all have screens connected to the rower, although content material experiences throughout these fluctuate. The OG of indoor rowers, the Concept2, is screenless however prices a mere $990.
Peloton is betting that the Row’s construct—and extra critically, its content material—will assist promote it to all kinds of consumers, whether or not these are superior rowers, collegiate athletes, or simply people who find themselves interested in rowing as a full-body train. Cortese provides that the worth “is largely dictated by what it costs us to make, our choices to invest in the hardware, to include the premium screen with a soundbar and a larger display surface, to add a swivel to the screen, to design a comfortable seat, to include an electromagnetic motor.” Peloton isn’t promoting the Row at value; there might be some margin on the {hardware}, Cortese says. But Peloton’s foremost focus proper now, as new CEO Barry McCarthy has laid out, is getting more people hooked on varying levels of Peloton subscriptions.
An excellent-expensive rowing machine is an odd technique to go about that, however this product has been within the works for round two years, which suggests it was developed throughout an earlier Peloton period. During a latest Zoom briefing (no one at WIRED has seen the rower in particular person), the Peloton Row appeared to have all of the smooth traces and durable metallic of its Pelo-brethren.
