I seriously doubt Apple would have any interest to in TR…it is just too small to get their attention.
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Apple buys all sorts of companies that you’ve never heard of. One would just need to get their company on Apple’s radar and make a good argument for purchase
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So what is the argument? Honest question 'cuz I can’t see it.
I mean that’s for @Nate_Pearson to decide. If it were me, I’d leverage the AI FTP detection and machine learning aspects in the fitness environment.
not sure about you all, but i would have a hard time following a workout from a watch vs a headunit, doesn’t seem super practical to use a watch for structured workouts
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I totally agree, but I think the FTP estimation is interesting, as indicates a couple of things, firstly, intent, like @dcrainmaker said when they entered the “sports watch” arena, they should be taken seriously, not for what they have now, but where they are going
Where did they get the FTP / HR estimation (dcrainmakers recent post indicates that is based on both)
I would suggest that this either indicates they are very serious, as they will be jumping from can’t pair with power meters, to we can estimate your FTP, or they have partnered with somebody
Usually those companies have some sort of technology / patent that Apple wants, if they have come up with their own FTP estimation based on Power and HR, I think they just walked passed TR and didn’t even notice
I apologize for my cynicism. Sarcasm is prevalent on the internet so sometimes I just default to assuming that is always the case.
I feel like there are some technical restrictions to this. As @NateP mentioned, Apple Watch only supports Bluetooth and not ANT+. I am not familiar with what bluetooth protocol Apple Watch uses (I think it is supposedly going to be upgraded in the next Apple Watch release) but I am somewhat skeptical if an Apple Watch can handle connectivity with a power meter, indoor trainer, cadence meter, etc. This skepticism can be unfounded though.
I do agree with the popularity of Apple Watch and I think people do underestimate its market power within niche sport usage. I think the fact it will support connectivity with cadence and power meters is a big and worthwhile step.
I mean if you love your business and truly believe in its mission then I would disagree. But TR is not mine to sell.
They actually have. The biggest example I can think of is Dark Sky. A niche weather app that was known for their very elegant UI. After Apple purchased them they incorporated a lot of DarkSky’s features into their native app before they sunsetted the Dark Sky app itself.
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I see no correlation between Dark Sky (which had absolute crap for forecasting BTW 
) and TR…
Dark Sky had potential appeal to a much larger audience than TR. TR caters to a niche audience.
(none of that is a slag on TR…I just can’t see any reason why Apple would want them)
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But Apple didn’t buy Dark Sky for the app, they bought it for the forecasting technology and the weather service itself.
Again it comes down to having something/a patent that Apple wants, so unless TR has been working with Apple on the FTP estimation, I fail to see what TR has that Apple would want
That is a fair point. But I think Apple has indicated that they want to start appealing to the “niche” sports audience e.g Apple Watch Ultra.
Now do I think Apple acquiring TR is a decent possibility? No. But as Apple starts adding more sport specific functionality to watchOS and Apple Health I do envision a scenario where Apple starts building (or acquiring) technology that only “serious” athletes would be interested in.
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On a trainer with ERG mode it’s dead easy. Outside it’s not so hard to equate PE to power once you settle on the effort. This isn’t rocket science
Everything has a price. Even things you love
I think you answered your own question. I think TR AI FTP technology is pretty ground breaking and IMO a game changer for cycling tech. And it would certainly fall under the “TR has something that Apple would want”.
Now I don’t see it likely or close to it Apple acquires TR but I would just reiterate this point again:
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I wonder what the folks at Garmin are thinking as they learn of this move by Apple?
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I think you miss understand me, Apple have just announced that they can pair with power meters and predict FTP, my question was what left for Apple to buy, as Apple already has this, so it isn’t something that they would want/need to buy from TR
So I totally disagree with this, why buy something you already have … unless they have already been working with TR to get this
Probably the same thing their maps and GPS head unit division were thinking 10 yrs ago.
I’ll be definitely trying this feature out. If I can get rid of my head unit and HR strap that’s a huge win.
With TR acquisition of AI FTP you’d be able to fine tune the algorithm
it’s not just the power, it’s the workout steps and interval time. I dunno, when I’m riding my bike I don’t want to look my wrist, I look at the headunit.
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I did, sorry.
Well I guess the question is how do they predict FTP? Are they using AI that compares your data to all rides submitted from the user base (like TR) or are they just using the “x did x minutes at x watts” and compare that to some type of power curve to estimate your FTP (like intervals dot icu or Zwift). I would guess that Apple does the latter and argue the former is better.
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