LG Elec-SM Ent JV to unveil beta home fitness app in March

Fitness Candy, a joint creation by LG Electronics Inc. and SM Entertainment Co. to rival Apple Fitness Plus, is expected to unveil its beta service this month, moving a step closer to the official release of its home fitness platform, which has already been put off for six months.

According to industry sources on Monday, the 51%:49% joint venture Fitness Candy by the South Korean tech giant and K-pop pioneer, will test market response to its home workout app with a beta service in March under a plan to release its official service within the first half of this year.

Fitness Candy was created by the two companies in June last year to join the smart gear-paired at-home fitness boom triggered by the pandemic. Apple Fitness Plus and Peloton Guide are frontrunners in the global home fitness market.

The Korean home fitness platform was initially planned to hit the market in September last year but it has been postponed after Shim Woo-taek abruptly resigned as the company’s chief executive officer in October, four months after the JV launch.

Since a new CEO joined later, Fitness Candy has been reviewing various subscription and service plans that differ from the originally planned ones, according to the company. It earlier planned to charge its app users about 20,000 won ($15.38) or 30,000 won for a monthly subscription to premium home workout programs.

This is higher than the leading home workout app by Apple Inc. that charges 9,900 won in Korea for its subscription-based home fitness service offering 12 different workout types with trainer-guided workout videos and meditation programs on iPhone, iPad or Apple TV.

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LG Electronics' role in Fitness Candy is to develop, operate and manage the home fitness platform and related devices. It plans to use its artificial intelligence (AI) and big data technologies to create smart tools that work with the app such as smart cameras, exercise bikes and resistance bands.

SM Entertainment plans to use its vast wealth of content, especially K-pop music, and celebrities to provide unique experiences for the app users. It announced last June that popular Korean celebrities such as Korean model Han Hye-jin, actress Choi Yeo-jin, triathlete Heo Min-ho and former rugby player Andre Jin Coquillard would take part in creating Fitness Candy programs to add fun and entertaining elements.

Fitness Candy also planned to add other non-workout programs such as sports, variety shows and documents, as well as content about healthy diets and stress relief, to make the app unique.

The Korean home workout platform will be available on various operating systems and devices from smartphones to smart TVs for customized and interactive services that will collect data from smart bands, cameras and exercise devices, according to the company.

Fitness Candy will offer its paid subscription service after it upgrades its free beta service. Its initial target users are women in their 20s to 40s.

But with the delayed launch, it won’t likely achieve its original target to recruit 50,000 paid subscribers and earn 10 billion won in sales this year.

LG Electronics and SM Entertainment will focus on building a solid program that has staying power and beat Apple Fitness Plus, the companies said. The Korean appliance giant is looking to the new service to jumpstart a new chapter in its business.

“We will transform LG’s business paradigm from function-oriented home appliances into a customer experience-oriented company” with the launch of Fitness Candy, LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan said in June last year, celebrating the birth of the Fitness Candy JV.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.