With Flare, Apple Extends Its Reach Into Online Music

With Flare, Apple Extends Its Reach Into Online Music ""Apple has hit a home run," said Charles Wolf, a financial analyst at Needham & Company. "The one thing you need to win in this business is traffic, and they got AOL and pre-empted them from any other music site. The Pepsi deal is just frosting on the cake."
The promotional agreement with Pepsi calls for it to distribute special caps on its soft drinks in February and March as part of an Apple giveaway of 100 million songs.
The agreement was rich in paradox, leaving many Apple-watchers shaking their heads in amazement. They recalled that Mr. Jobs, in 1983, recruited John Sculley, then Pepsi's chief executive, by asking him, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugar water?"

Classic Steve Jobs choreography and press management -- most articles and other references mention the rock star cameos etc. but ignore little details such as whether or not Apple will ever make a meaningful profit on iTunes.