Small market, and as @
Wildwood notes, probably a short production run ... and a high profit margin, The tracking app is a gimmick ... but a good one, because the people who would buy a bike like this probably aren't interested in getting on Strava and all that .... much more interested in feeding data to their chosen fitness app.
This is not a bicycle for "cyclists;" it is a bicycle for people who might like to ride a bike now and then.It seems well-designed for what it is meant to do, and for the people who are likely to consider buying it. There are other "Citi-bikes" out there, but this one, because it is sold by a major bike brand, will probably be easier for people to find, test-ride and buy.
Edit: Also, this is a bike designed for whatever modern "yuppies" are called---young, urbanized, cosmopolitan, a little trendy ... the type of people who look for quaint boutiques and coffee bars when picking places to live. Those people tend to have some cash, and are used to getting charged inflated prices (Starbucks coffee .... or worse, the ultra-hip, "fair-trade" upscale, "You've got to try this new spot" coffee shop of the moment, which probably charges as much for a cup of coffee with whipped milk as the ordinary supermarket charges for a 12-ounce bag of beans.) These people look at money and value differently than we do ... I see a $900 bike and I am expecting a certain functionality, and a certain level of components ... and know what they are.
The customers for this bike have no clue what Tourney, Claris, or Sora might be .... and don't care. They know that if they buy a bike form Cannondale it will last ... and it will, because even the lowest-level Shimano stuff will handle gentle, occasional usage for years. Sure, it might not hold fine adjustment for tens of thousands of shifts ... but for the use these bikes will probably get, that might be ten years.
What you have here is the equivalent of the $10kK and $15K bikes sold buy the big manufacturers .... luxury tax. Those incredibly expensive bikes are not three times as good as the $6K offerings from the same companies ... but after a certain price point, sale price has no relation to production cost, and the higher price is actually a feature, not a drawback, to certain customers.
This might be a $300 bicycle, but the people buying it aren't likely to have spent a lot of time shopping for features and benefits .... most likely one person sees and add and buys one, then his or her friends follow suit.