Pop Culture

Thursday, 16 October 2003

Some irony from today’s iTunes/iPod hoopla, regarding Apple’s upcoming “100 million song” giveaway in conjuction with Pepsi. It was Pepsi, you’ll recall, where John Sculley was president before coming to Apple as president and CEO 1983. Steve Jobs personally recruited Sculley, finally wooing him with the question, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life?”

Who’s selling sugar water now, eh?

This Pepsi deal also adds a tad bit of irony to “Dell’s Dud”, given how much effort I expended comparing the iPod to Coke, brand-wise. But Coke-vs.-Pepsi rivalry notwithstanding, the deal backs up my argument: the iPod is not about geek culture, it’s about pop culture.