Originally Posted by
dmanthree
The difference is, to me, that if one side goes away there are other choices. Zwift goes under? Use another platform. Tacx leaves the market? Use another brand. With Peleton it's all or nothing. And that's fine as long as they're viable.
Yeah, can't argue with that from a customer perspective. But if I was Zwift I would be a bit concerned about being totally dependent on third party hardware that I had no control over. Now that Wahoo has acquired both Sufferfest and RGT they could choose to make life awkward for Zwift by bundling hardware/software solutions. As a perfect example, I have just suspended my Zwift subscription simply because I now get free access to RGT via my Wahoo subscription (not that I think RGT is as good as Zwift today, but it saves me a whole subscription). How long before Wahoo start bundling compelling hardware/software packages, effectively leaving Zwift out in the cold? Presumably that's exactly why they bought these software providers. Then there's Garmin, having acquired Tacx. Surely Garmin will be sniffing around the software side of the business too?
Looking at it another way, if Zwift had successfully launched a compelling hardware platform and made their software exclusive to it (or at least provided exclusive features) then they would have totally dominated the entire market like Peloton have in their own field. DC Rainmaker made a similar comment in this article a couple of years ago.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/02/...ns-to-you.html