What happened
Shares of Peloton Interactive (PTON 1.59%) were running 7% higher in morning trading Friday on no company-specific news, though there continues to be confusion surrounding the development of the Prime Bike by connected fitness-equipment maker Echelon and Amazon (AMZN 0.89%).
So what
The sale of the stationary bike was heralded as Amazon's first foray into connected fitness, and a low-cost bike from the e-commerce giant could have posed a serious threat to Peloton's own efforts to introduce a lower-cost product.
Image source: Peloton Interactive.
Now what
But after word broke that there was a new Amazon Prime Bike on the market, the retailer quickly pushed back on its development, saying it had nothing to do with the bike, and it was taken down from Amazon's site. The press release from Echelon announcing it was also scrubbed.
In an interview with Yahoo! Finance this morning, however, Echelon CEO Lou Lentine maintained that Amazon was involved in it from the beginning, had requested a $500 price point, and even agreed to the name.
But it seems that Amazon's buying department never cleared it with those higher up in the chain of command, and using the Prime name was not approved. Still, Lentine says the bike sold out within hours and Echelon is working on a new name for it.
The continuing confusion surrounding the fitness bike could be leading the market to believe tech stock Peloton's position atop the connected-fitness market is secure for a while longer.
