Wahoo and Zwift jointly announced the "amicable settlement" of all pending litigation earlier today, marking an end to a turbulent time to the indoor training marketplace.

In the joint announcement, the parties stated that "the agreement will see both parties embark on a renewed approach to collaboration, with a view to growing the indoor fitness category and delivering continual, ongoing improvements to customers - through increased innovation, ease of use and better value."

The announcement comes months after a judge denied Wahoo's motions for preliminary injunctions against Zwift surrounding Zwift's Hub trainer. Those injunctions, among other things, surrounded Wahoo's claims that Zwift was infringing against numerous patents and other pieces of intellectual property.

Here are the key elements for you, the end consumer:

Zwift Gets to Keep Selling Hub: As part of the agreement, Wahoo has granted a limited license to use its patents, which were the core of the litigation between the parties. But that limitation means that Hub is going to be available only in existing marketplaces: the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Sorry, Canadians -- unless you're dragging it across the border, you're left out in the cold on this one.

Wahoo Products Back on Zwift.com: Coming later this month, you're going to see the return of certain Wahoo trainers and smart bikes coming back on sale on Zwift's website. As you may remember, Zwift liquidated its inventory in almost all third-party trainers around the time of Hub's launch and during the litigation period.

The key differentiator when you purchase through Zwift.com -- the pricing will include a full year of Zwift membership. This will also include Zwift's own Hub -- so expect to see a little bit of sticker increase over the existing $499 USD price on Zwift's website. (If you just want the trainer, you'd best get a move on.) And Wahoo will also offer these bundled prices on their own website, too.

What Does Increased Collaboration Mean, Anyways?: Fundamentally, this should mean that new features out of Wahoo trainers will immediately be compatible with Zwift, and vice versa when Zwift launches new enhancements to the in-game experience. Critically, this should mean that when you buy a Wahoo product and want to use Zwift, your experience should be as seamless as possible.

What Does it Mean for Wahoo?: Time to put on my industry hat for a moment. I think this agreement puts Wahoo back in the driver's seat when it comes to the indoor training market in the first place.

You may have missed it, but earlier this week Wahoo also announced pricing changes to the KICKR Core and Snap, now each at $599 and $349 (note: no Zwift membership included in that pricing). There's also an ongoing sale on ROLLR, putting it also at $599. This pricing makes it extremely competitive against a bunch of products from Elite and Tacx, but perhaps most competitive against Zwift's Hub at $499. Now, these two trainers really sit in two slightly different buckets -- the Hub is a great trainer for those who aren't really "gaming" in Zwift (racing, for instance), as our own Ryan Rish talked about earlier this year in his review of it. Whereas the KICKR Core can do most everything, except the absolute top-end of sprinting and gradient simulation. But when it was priced a few hundred dollars more than a Hub, that makes it a tough sell. Now it's a much easier entry point.

But this is also Wahoo smartly positioning itself to be the premier manufacturer of indoor trainers and being aligned with the current market leader in supporting software. Wahoo still also retains its own ecosystem with Wahoo X. It ultimately gives people who choose to ride a Wahoo trainer the greatest degree of flexibility in how they choose to use their trainer. And we're big fans of giving people options.

And for Zwift?: On Zwift's side, first things first -- it gets to keep selling a trainer to feed its core mission of getting more people to ride on Zwift. It's not the least expensive smart way in the door -- that's Snap -- but a Hub is a darn near perfect introduction. It's left unsaid the licensing cost of the patents from Wahoo, but you'd expect that to be enough to have made Wahoo happy to cut pricing a little bit.

But it also means Zwift can get back to its core -- which is the in-game experience. Although still a good option of the in-game experiences for indoor training, Zwift has been buggier as it continually rolls out new features, including Pace Partners, Climb Portal, and new roads. But now it doesn't have to worry about losing its introductory hardware product, nor does it need to worry that it will lose support of a key manufacturer in the marketplace.

Ultimately this will be a benefit to all indoor riders -- and just in time for the Northern Hemisphere to start heading towards indoor season.