In what may the start of the ultimate Marketing war between
Pepsi and Coca Cola, Pepsi has decided to get into the Smartphone world as per
the article “Is
the world ready for a Pepsi Phone?”, published October 10, 2015 By David Nield,
Digitaltrends.
Or at least for Pepsi Co Inc. in China, which means I need
to brush up on my Mandarin.
Specifically, they've decided to make a smartphone as
reported in the article “PepsiCo
says to market mobile phones, accessories in China”, published Thursday Oct
15, 2015 by Milek Blake, CNET News.
This surprise announcement came on Pepsi Weibo account,
which the Chinese equivalent of Twitter and is actually from the Pepsi Co Inc.
in China, as this promotion seems to be geared towards the Chinese market as
reported in the article “Pepsi
Getting Ready To Release Its Own Smartphone?”, published October 9, 2015 by
Mihai Matei, G for Games.
This announcement on Friday October 9th 2015 comes
after Pepsi Co Inc. had announced that they'd be making the Pepsi Perfect, the
product seen in the movie Back to the Future II as reported in the article “Pepsi
Perfect from 'Back to the Future' gets real this month”, published October
5, 2015 by Amanda Kooser, CNET News.
The Pepsi Perfect is to be launched on Thursday October 21st
2015, the day when the movie's main character Marty McFly, is supposed to arrive
from the past in the movie Back to the Future II. The product is a promotion
push by Pepsi and only 6,500 bottles in collectible cases will be sold, which
you'll have to order online.
So it's a collectible and is NOT for Drinking!
This Pepsi smartphone probably ties into their promotional
push. So what is the name of the Pepsi smartphone and what exactly are the
specs for this marketing Unicorn?
Specs for the
Pepsi P1 - Decent low-end Budget Phablet that's not a Toy
First thing off the bat, this isn't being made directly by
Pepsi Co Inc.
Like Telecom Provider Digicel here in Jamaica, Pepsi Co Inc
most likely contracted an OEM (Original Equiptment Manufacturer) of smartphones
to make a branded smartphone for them as the video below suggests.
This is not an
unusual practice and is very common practice in marketing, as can be seen in
some Supermarkets like Hi-Lo in Cross Roads that sells products branded with
the supermarket’s Logo.
That being said, the specs for the Pepsi P1, as it is
allegedly to be called, are pretty impressive for a promotional product as
noted in the article “Pepsi
wants to sell you a smartphone with that soda”, published October 12, 2015
by Eric Mack, CNET News.
According to the article “Pepsi
also do phone 5.5 inch screen priced at 1299”, published October 11, 2015
by Fei Leng Network, Sina (folks, you
need to brush up on your Mandarin!) the specs are for a fairly impressive
phablet and not a toy for children.
The Pepsi P1 is a 5.5" smartphone with a 1,080p
display. It's packing Google Android 5.1 Lollipop that runs on a 1.7GHz CPU
with a decent 2 GB RAM. The Internal storage of 16GB is at the lower end of the
scale, but this is more than likely expandable with a micro SD Card.
Pepsi P1 may be
more than a Marketing Product - May be launched worldwide as more than a
Promotional Product
But the real surprise isn't the specs but the price, which
is set at US$205 unlocked as reported in the article “The
Pepsi phone is real, and here’s what it looks like”, published October 12,
2015 By Kyle Wiggers, Digitaltrends.
Whether or not this means Pepsi will be making a push into
making more smartphones is what’s of interest to me personally. This may be the
start of Brand name companies contracting OEM’s to make Branded products not
only as a marketing gimmick but as a way for them to sell more units.
I’m hoping that Pepsi Co Inc will make this smartphone
available to the rest of the world and not just China as noted in the article “Pepsi
is launching an Android phone in China”, published October 12, 2015 by Sean
O'Kane, The Verge before the Pepsi
Perfect arrives on Wednesday October 21st 2015
Folks, set the date Tuesday October 20th 2015 in
you scheduler in your smartphone or on your calendar (that's me!) as that's the
day that the Pepsi P1 is set to arrive with Marty McFly, Back to the Future II
Style!
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