Coca-Cola turns to Apple for iTunes deal
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em -- Looking to rebound from a failing music venture of its own, Coca-Cola is reportedly in talks with Apple Computer over an iTunes promotion to hype its new no-calorie cola.
According to a report in Europe's DigitalBulletin, the soft-drink maker hopes to garner appeal for its Coke Zero brand by offering UK customers discounts at Apple's iTunes Music Store.
Word of the deal comes less than a week after Coca-Cola said it would cease operation of its Mycokemusic.com download service, which launched in 2004 with a music catalog of over 250,000 tracks.
The service -- once Europe's largest for legally downloaded music -- buckled quickly following Apple's entrance into the region with its European Union iTunes Music Store.
According to data from U.K. market research company XTN, iTunes held a 54 percent share of the British online music market in November 2005 compared to 6 percent for Mycokemusic.
As part of its deal with Apple, Coca-Cola is also reportedly in talks to sponsor digital content that will be accessible through iTunes.
Insiders told DigitalBulletin the iTunes tie-up could help Coca-Cola maintain its edge in the competitive UK soft-drinks market.
Twice before, Apple has teamed with Coke rival Pepsi Co. in offering similar promotions in the US.
According to a report in Europe's DigitalBulletin, the soft-drink maker hopes to garner appeal for its Coke Zero brand by offering UK customers discounts at Apple's iTunes Music Store.
Word of the deal comes less than a week after Coca-Cola said it would cease operation of its Mycokemusic.com download service, which launched in 2004 with a music catalog of over 250,000 tracks.
The service -- once Europe's largest for legally downloaded music -- buckled quickly following Apple's entrance into the region with its European Union iTunes Music Store.
According to data from U.K. market research company XTN, iTunes held a 54 percent share of the British online music market in November 2005 compared to 6 percent for Mycokemusic.
As part of its deal with Apple, Coca-Cola is also reportedly in talks to sponsor digital content that will be accessible through iTunes.
Insiders told DigitalBulletin the iTunes tie-up could help Coca-Cola maintain its edge in the competitive UK soft-drinks market.
Twice before, Apple has teamed with Coke rival Pepsi Co. in offering similar promotions in the US.
Comments
Originally posted by bdkennedy1
Coke Zero is AWESOME. Puts Diet Coke to shame. Now it's the only cola I drink.
The name certainly is not attractive. I dislike any diet soft drinks... then again, I dislike most soft drinks...
The only confirmed issue I have ever heard for diet drinks is that some people have a genetic condition that prevents the break down of one of the two amino acids that can form if the sugar replacement breaks down, the condition is called phenylketonuria if you're wondering.
So now I'm just left with drinking wine and (belgian) beer
Originally posted by e1618978
Drink unsweet iced tea instead, that way you don't get cancer from your drink.
I second that. Drink nothing but tea for a month, and all sodas will taste bizarre. I have lost over fifty pounds over the last year, mainly from eliminating soda from my diet. In my case it wasn't diet, because the chemicals in diet drinks can trigger migraines. But for regular soda, it is the corn syrup that is the problem.
Corn sweetener is fructose, as opposed to real sugar that is sucrose. Sucrose can be absorbed by every cell in your body, where as fructose can only be absorbed by the liver. And the liver struggles with it, clogging up the system and actually making you more hungry. If you look at the history, the soda companies switched to corns syrup in the 70's due to the Cuban embargo (sugar), and the fact that it become apparent that corn wasn't that good for you and farmers needed another way to sell their crop.
Ironically, the current obesity trends all started back then as well. And as for diet sodas, they are just as bad. Although they are low calorie, the chemicals are terrible for you. Not to mention that all carbonated water dehydrates you, causing more weight gain.
Customers don't feel like Coke has abandoned them.
Apple looses out on some initial profit
Apples gains new customers
Apple will gain future marketshare and profits
Apple will sell more iPods
Originally posted by Johnny Mozzarella
Coke could garner more goodwill by offering it's past customers the opportunity to exchange their previously purchased WMA music files for iTunes AAC files.
Customers don't feel like Coke has abandoned them.
Apple looses out on some initial profit
Apples gains new customers
Apple will gain future marketshare and profits
Apple will sell more iPods
and somehow MS sues them for breech of some obscure passage in the contract...
Originally posted by bdkennedy1
Coke Zero is AWESOME. Puts Diet Coke to shame. Now it's the only cola I drink.
What exactly is the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke?
I know Coke C2 is like a in-between-diet-and-regular-coke.
Originally posted by icfireball
What exactly is the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke?
I know Coke C2 is like a in-between-diet-and-regular-coke.
I've wondered about that myself. Diet Coke, after all, also has essentially zero calories. What's funny about C2 is that it was created to go after the low-carb diet crowd, but it has MORE carbs, sugary high-glycemic index carbs, than good ol' Diet Coke which has no appreciable carbs of any kind whatsoever.
Coke Zero does taste different, however. More Pepsi-ish tasting I seem to recall from the one time I tried it.
Originally posted by SpamSandwich
The name certainly is not attractive. I dislike any diet soft drinks... then again, I dislike most soft drinks...
I used to drink Coke at least twice a day. But I gave up soft drinks, for the most part, and now drink Newman's Virgin Lemonade.
Originally posted by blue2kdave
I second that. Drink nothing but tea for a month, and all sodas will taste bizarre. I have lost over fifty pounds over the last year, mainly from eliminating soda from my diet. In my case it wasn't diet, because the chemicals in diet drinks can trigger migraines. But for regular soda, it is the corn syrup that is the problem.
Corn sweetener is fructose, as opposed to real sugar that is sucrose. Sucrose can be absorbed by every cell in your body, where as fructose can only be absorbed by the liver. And the liver struggles with it, clogging up the system and actually making you more hungry. If you look at the history, the soda companies switched to corns syrup in the 70's due to the Cuban embargo (sugar), and the fact that it become apparent that corn wasn't that good for you and farmers needed another way to sell their crop.
Ironically, the current obesity trends all started back then as well. And as for diet sodas, they are just as bad. Although they are low calorie, the chemicals are terrible for you. Not to mention that all carbonated water dehydrates you, causing more weight gain.
Fructose is real sugar. There are hundreds of real sugars. Fructose has less calories than sucrose, but it is also less sweet, ounce for ounce.
Originally posted by melgross
Fructose is real sugar. There are hundreds of real sugars. Fructose has less calories than sucrose, but it is also less sweet, ounce for ounce.
Yes fructose is real sugar.
No, fructose is actually more sweet ounce for ounce, hence, the food industry replaces sucrose with HFCS(high fructose corn syrup) and saves money, getting the same sweetness.
Fructose has the same caloric content of sucrose ounce for ounce, but since it takes less to achieve the same sweetness level less is used and the product it is used in may be lower in calories.
a little fiction and fact from rickag's almanac
Originally posted by rickag
Yes fructose is real sugar.
No, fructose is actually more sweet ounce for ounce, hence, the food industry replaces sucrose with HFCS(high fructose corn syrup) and saves money, getting the same sweetness.
Fructose has the same caloric content of sucrose ounce for ounce, but since it takes less to achieve the same sweetness level less is used and the product it is used in may be lower in calories.
a little fiction and fact from rickag's almanac
HFCS is sweeter, it is true:
Relative Sweetness Scale - Sucrose = 100
Fructose 140
High Fructose Corn Syrup 120-160
Glucose 70-80
Galactose 35
Maltose 30-50
Lactose 20
But saying that the extra sweetness is the reason why companys save money using it is wrong. The reason why they save money is that the US charges a 150% tarrif on sugar (pushing it up to 2.5x world prices).
Not only do they tarrif sugar, but they subsidise corn. Without these two things, hfcs would not be used (as can be clearly seen in other countries withot the sugar tarrif, sugar is used in Coke). Worldwide, the price of the two sweeteners are roughly the same - but the worldwide price is still affected a bit by the US subsidies of corn.
Originally posted by e1618978
Drink unsweet iced tea instead, that way you don't get cancer from your drink.
Do you have any references for that? My understanding is that epidemiological research has fairly well debunked the urban myth that artifical sweetners were linked to cancer. Of course, I don't have any references on me either!
I don't like coke et al. anyways though. I don't understand how people can drink so much of it. To each their own!
Originally posted by Flounder
Do you have any references for that? My understanding is that epidemiological research has fairly well debunked the urban myth that artifical sweetners were linked to cancer. Of course, I don't have any references on me either!
I don't like coke et al. anyways though. I don't understand how people can drink so much of it. To each their own!
It looks like you are right:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/f...ial-sweeteners
Of course, the FDA has also approved lots of things that ended up killing people.
I like regular coke - have a couple of cans per year. But I really hate the taste of artificial sweetners - has anyone here tried the left-handed sugar Tagatose?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagatose
Originally posted by melgross
I used to drink Coke at least twice a day. But I gave up soft drinks, for the most part, and now drink Newman's Virgin Lemonade.
I gave up drinking carbonated beverages about 20 years ago.
I was surprised to learn recently that one of my favorite bottled waters, DASANI, is bottled by Coke.
when the pepsi promotion was originally announced, i was a bit disappointed, because i refuse to buy pepsi products. if a similar promotion were made with coke, i would be loading up on free itunes songs. lately, though, i have to admit that the pepsi promotions have been much better than coke's. i mean, what the hell is "my coke rewards"? you have to enter an 8 digit code on a website to stock up on points just to receive even the crappiest reward. i much prefer the "every 3 bottles is a winner" method (or whatever it was).
Originally posted by shetline
I've wondered about that myself. Diet Coke, after all, also has essentially zero calories. What's funny about C2 is that it was created to go after the low-carb diet crowd, but it has MORE carbs, sugary high-glycemic index carbs, than good ol' Diet Coke which has no appreciable carbs of any kind whatsoever.
Coke Zero does taste different, however. More Pepsi-ish tasting I seem to recall from the one time I tried it.