Soft drink vending machines are one of those unobtrusive, inoffensive bits of life that can be placed almost anywhere without anyone noticing or complaining (apart from the occasional anti-obesity protester. Coke’s trying to harness that unseen power (and sell more Coke!) by sticking Wi-Fi hotspots inside some South African vending machines.
The Coke machines will be powered by British Telecom’s infrastructure, with the whole cold-beverage-vending thing obviously covered by Coke itself. Wi-Fi will be free of charge, presumably with the intent that this’ll turn into the African version of people freeloading off coffee-shop Wi-Fi, only with cold, fizzy coke instead of pumpkin spice lattes.
The trial is initially planned for “two key regions” in South Africa, with more planned, because this is definitely not just a PR stunt.