New York (CNN Business)Amazon is distancing itself from the $499 stationary bike that the manufacturer said was "developed in collaboration with Amazon."
Fitness startup Echelon said in a press release Tuesday that it built a Prime-branded bike and Amazon partnered with the startup to build Amazon's "first-ever connected fitness product." The press release has now been deleted and Amazon said the bike is "not an Amazon product or related to Amazon Prime."
"Echelon does not have a formal partnership with Amazon. We are working with Echelon to clarify this in its communications, stop the sale of the product, and change the product branding," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
The bike's product page is still on Amazon's website, but can't be ordered. Echelon said it's "working to rebrand the product to get it back up for sale as soon as possible."
The Prime Bike was positioned as a Peloton competitor because of its attractive price point, which is roughly $1,500 lower than Peloton's flagship bike, and its closely emulated design and color. Tuesday's announcement briefly sent shares of Peloton (PTON) lower before rebounding.
Amazon also sells other similarly priced (or cheaper) stationary bikes. But using the Prime branding suggested it wanted to make its mark into the booming at-home fitness category. Prime is the company's popular subscription service and commonly uses the name on products.
That's why Amazon wanted Echelon to change the branding -- Amazon isn't trying to disrupt Peloton (not yet, anyway).
Echelon told CNN Business that it built the product to sell on Amazon, and it has been in communication with Amazon since the product's inception. It will continue making the bike (which sold out), and it will sell it once again after it gets the branding sorted out.
Reprinted from cnn.com, the copyright all reserved by the original author.
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