Rumor: Peloton to launch Tonal competitor – a new connected strength device?

A recent Peloton job posting for “VP of Product Marketing for Peloton Strength” seems to indicate that Peloton might have yet another new product in development, or planned for acquisition. The job posting was made about 4 days ago, but has already been removed after receiving over 400 applicants for the job. We’ll share the relevant part of the job posting, and then discuss what it might mean.

Reporting to the SVP, Head of Product Marketing, the VP of Product Marketing for Peloton Strength will be a key leader in our Marketing organization. The VP will function in many ways as the marketing GM for this Strength product line and be responsible for overseeing the go-to-market strategy for this emerging content discipline at Peloton.

  • Act as the marketing GM for Peloton Strength, an emerging Content discipline and completely new & confidential connected fitness category for Peloton Interactive
  • Responsible for the go-to-market strategy for all Peloton strength products including our product positioning, placement, and promotional strategies; advise/ partner with other stakeholders on product pricing and business roadmap
  • Lead the marketing roadmap for Strength wholistically; design for the full lifecycle from demand generation through to retention

The main question becomes whether this position would just oversee the existing strength content, which is already available across all platforms, or if it points towards a new product. The job posting discusses “product pricing” – which would indicate a standalone product that needs to have a price determined for it. It also discusses “completely new & confidential connected fitness category” – language which also tends to indicate a new product. Peloton has previously shown interest in the connected strength product category – earlier this year, reports surfaced that Peloton had approached the company Tempo, who make one such device, with possible interest in acquiring them.

We also know that Peloton CEO John Foley has discussed how Peloton R&D is always working on new products – in fact, he was on the “How I Built This” podcast last month and specifically talked about how Peloton has been investing a lot of money in R&D recently. Given the growing interest of people staying at home, but still wanting to get dedicated strength training in, it would make sense for Peloton to try to enter the strength market, especially given the growing success of some of the other companies who already have connected strength products. Peloton has some recruited some experience in house already – their SVP of Hardware, Sam Bowen, was recruited in November of 2019 away from Tonal, where he had spent 2 years working on Tonal’s connected strength hardware.

Tonal is clearly an early leader in the this new product category, and growing in popularity. Many Peloton users have picked up the Tonal – there is even a Facebook group for those with both devices called The PeloTonal Group. Other companies are trying to compete as well, including Forme Life, Tempo (the company Peloton approached about acquiring), Carbon, and many others. There’s also companies like Mirror (who were recently acquired by Lululemon for $500 million), who bring fitness classes into consumers home, but without any strength training attachments built into the device.

Assuming the job listing does point towards a new connected strength device from Peloton, the one thing it doesn’t tell us is what it would look like or how it would function. Just looking at the handful of companies above, there are clearly a number of ways to implement connected strength devices. We don’t have enough information yet to have any indication what Peloton’s device might look like – but we’ll be sure to report when we do. However, based on what we know so far, we wouldn’t expect to see this new Peloton strength hardware product in the next few months – it seems as if it’s still in the early stages of development.

The other alternative is that Peloton has plans to acquire an existing connected strength device, and fold it into the Peloton brand. The new hire could then be in a position to oversee the newly acquired product. This would also in theory allow for Peloton to bring the new hardware to market more quickly.

Speaking of new products, we still expect the announcement of the new premium Peloton bike, as well as the lower cost Peloton Tread in the next few weeks. Unfortunately, it appears the Peloton Rower isn’t due to be released anytime soon.


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Chris Lewis
Chris Lewis is the creator & founder of Pelo Buddy. He purchased his Peloton in 2018, and uses all the different devices: Peloton Bike, Tread, Row, and Guide. He has been involved in the fitness industry for more than a decade - previously co-founding the websites Mud Run Guide & Ninja Guide. You can find him on the leaderboard at #PeloBuddy.

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