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The Pepsi P1 Smartphone Takes Consumer Lock-In Beyond the App (thestack.com)

An anonymous reader writes: On the 20th of October Pepsi will launch its own smartphone in China. The P1 is not just a cowling brand, but a custom-made device running Android 5.1 and costing approximately $205. At that price it's almost a burner, but even so it represents new possibilities for a brand to truly control the digital space for its eager consumers in a period where mobile content-blocking is becoming a marketing obstruction, and where there is increasing resistance on Google's part to allow publishers to push web-users from the internet to 'the app'.

14 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. "At that price it's almost a burner" by Nutria · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You either have no children, or are in the 1% (or, naturally, both).

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    1. Re:"At that price it's almost a burner" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      A $40 Walmart feature phone or a sub-$20 off Craigslist could be a "burner". $200 isn't even notably cheap by general smart phone standards.

    2. Re:"At that price it's almost a burner" by Nite_Hawk · · Score: 5, Informative

      The 16GB version of the ASUS zenfone2 is $199.99 carrier-free and is considered to be a reasonably good mid-grade phone.

      http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VW...

    3. Re:"At that price it's almost a burner" by Fwipp · · Score: 4, Informative

      I bought my phone new for $80 a year ago, and I didn't even have to look hard for it. 2013 Moto G. This year's model (just came out) is $180; the Moto E is even cheaper, $120. You can save more money by buying it from a carrier (still unlocked, no obligation to use with that carrier). They aren't the only company making cheap Android phones, either.

      There's also a whole bunch of cheap Windows phones out there.

    4. Re:"At that price it's almost a burner" by mopower70 · · Score: 4, Informative

      "In the 1%" means you make $32,400 a year.

      Source: globalrichlist.com

      I personally sit in the top 0.38%.

      Now you're just being pedantic. "The 1%" was a phrase popularized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, and refers almost exclusively to wealth inequity in America. The median income for the cohort to which the phrase "The 1%" refers is $400,000. Global wealth has no seriously meaningful value when considered on the scale of the individual. By your metric, the average homeless person in the US will be in the top 15 - 20%.

  2. Amazon Fire Phone all over again by johanw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They seemed not to have learned from Amazon's failure. The only buyers of this device are probably those who will replace the adware with a custom rom.

  3. Call me clueless by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I saw this over the weekend and simply shook my head thinking "what is the goal here Pepsi?"

    And looking at the specs, it isn't anything that hasn't already been done before (and better) for less. Unless they are going to be giving these away as some weird promotion I don't get it (right now).

    Here is the one real question I have, how is a Pepsi phone going to make people drink more Pepsi?

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  4. Re:New truthful slogan by tripleevenfall · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm going to wait for the BRAWNDO phone.

    BRAWNDO! The thirst mutilator!

  5. Just under the worldwide median monthly income... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you can think of a $200 phone as a "burner", then you are the 1%. Congratulations! But can you try not to be such a dick about it?

  6. Re:New truthful slogan by tripleevenfall · · Score: 3, Funny

    The translated page for the first link is awesome:

    Pepsi also do phone 5.5 inch screen priced at 1299
    At 09:33 on October 11, 2015 Lei Feng network

    Since soy sauce king also do hand ring, do any cross-border trade products have become rare. Recently, news that a beverage company to do a mobile phone. Recently, certification account named Pepsi phones coming microblogging Authentication information is "Science and Technology Co., Ltd. Shenzhen play crazy." Yesterday, the official micro news release said:. "Recently, a lot of information about PepsiCo phones on the network, thank you for your attention, through communication and cooperation within the company, next Tuesday we will bring more surprises for everyone."

  7. Burner Phones for Robber Barons by enjar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "I light my cigars with $100 bills, so a $200 phone is almost a burner! BULLY!"

  8. Re:New truthful slogan by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm going to wait for the BRAWNDO phone.

    BRAWNDO! The thirst mutilator!

    its what plants crave

    --
    ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
  9. When did they rebrand months? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    On the 20th of October Pepsi

    How much did that pay to rename that?

    That reminds me, though, not long until Thanksgiving in November-Facebook. Then I'll have to start thinking about buying Christmas gifts before the 25th of December-Coca-Cola...

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  10. Re:Count your teeth. 30 calories vs 150 by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Informative

    Pasteurizing milk literally kills it. Whole, raw milk is shelf-stable, and perfectly safe to consume. Left too long it simply turns into cheese. Once processed however, after a mere few days it grows highly toxic mold and fungus at a rate in direct proportion to the amount of processing (whole vs 2% vs skim). Interesting, no?

    Pasteurizing milk wasn't done to piss goofball foodies off. It was done as a public health measure. Look up Listeria and see if it's 'perfectly safe'.

    TL;DR - read the quote from the Wikipedia article:

    The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says improperly handled raw milk is responsible for nearly three times more hospitalizations than any other food-borne disease outbreak, making it one of the world's most dangerous food products.[15][16] Diseases prevented by pasteurization can include tuberculosis, brucellosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and Q-fever; it also kills the harmful bacteria Salmonella, Listeria, Yersinia, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli O157:H7,[17][18] among others.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!