Carlsberg Will Sell $400 Beer, World's Most Expensive

Carlsberg ads say it's " probably the best beer in the world.'' At $400 a bottle, it's now the most expensive.

The brewer, Scandinavia's biggest, introduced a beer today that costs 2,008 Danish kroner ($396.47), the price being based on the year of its introduction. The Vintage No. 1 brew will be sold at three Copenhagen restaurants, including Noma, a holder of two Michelin stars and the world's 15th-best restaurant in 2007, according to S.Pellegrino.

The product, costing 357 times more than Carlsberg's main Danish lager brand, has been developed to challenge luxury wines in the gourmet restaurant market and capitalize on rising individual wealth. Denmark, a country of 5.4 million, has 16 dollar billionaires, according to a list published this month by Berlingske Nyhedsmagasin magazine. The number of billionaires worldwide rose 21 percent last year to 946, Forbes magazine said.

Creative Price Model for Concert the Police

In the U.S. organisers of musicevents are experimenting with a new pricing model. All seats are sold at 100 dollar, except for the best places near the stage. These are sold through auctioning. During a test with the Police, the tickets were sold for 800 dollar.

In de VS wordt momenteel door organisatoren van muziekevents geëxperimenteerd met een nieuw pricingmodel. Alle plaatsen worden verkocht aan 100 dollar, met uitzondering van de beste plaatsen dichtbij het podium. Deze laatste worden via auctioning verkocht. Tijdens een test met de Police gingen deze kaartjes tot 800 dollar. Fair ? In ieder geval haalt men het zwart circuit onderuit dat tickets voor die plaatsen aan woekerprijzen verkocht de avond zelf, gezien de beste kaartjes enkel via auctioning verkocht worden. Tegelijk wordt de waarde van de grootste fans ook beter gecapteerd.

Benieuwd wie volgt.

Bron : VRT

Auto Insurance by the mile

Back in 2005, we covered Norwich Union's Pay-as-You-Drive program in the UK to charge consumers for auto insurance based on how often, when and where they use their vehicles. Starting in Texas, the United States will soon see a similar service for the first time thanks to MileMeter's "auto insurance buy the mile."

Like Norwich Union's offering, MileMeter will use consumers' usage levels to determine how much they must pay for auto insurance. Unlike Norwich Union's, however, MileMeter will not use any kind of vehicle tracking device to record that usage. Rather, consumers will buy coverage in advance in increments of as few as 1,000 miles; when their odometer reaches the end of that increment, the coverage expires. The cost per mile varies with the geographic area and the age of the driver, but a reasonable ball park for a 30-year-old driver and minimum coverage in a midrange urban ZIP code in Texas might be 4 cents per mile, MileMeter CEO Chris Gay says. Multiple drivers in a household can also be covered for a single vehicle.

Dallas-based MileMeter will launch in Texas this summer, with plans to roll out quickly to other states, Gay says. In the meantime, it's attracted a fair bit of attention, not least because it was one of only seven finalists in the most recent Amazon Web Services Startup Challenge. Because it doesn't use gender as a basis for determining rates, MileMeter has been ardently supported by the National Organization for Women (NOW). And by rewarding drivers who use their cars less, it has the potential to make an environmental impact as well. Sounds like a win-win all around—time for more entrepreneurs to start thinking in increments!

Source: www.springwise.com More info: www.milemeter.com

Expected bankruptcy for Liberty TV

The Dutch homeshopping canals are not doing well. After the problems with Tel Sell and LiveShop it is expected that Liberty TV will be bankrupt. Tour Press is annoucing this after a conversation with director and initiator Jacob Verschuur.

Het gaat (nog?) niet goed met homeshopping kanalen via de Nederlandse televisie. Na de problemen met Tel Sell en LiveShop zal vandaag naar verwachting de rechtbank in Amsterdam het faillisement van Liberty TV worden uitspreken, zo meldt Tour Press naar aanleiding van een gesprek met algemeen directeur en initiatiefnemer Jacob Verschuur.

Het kanaal, dat zich specialiseert in het uitzenden van reisdocumentaires en de daarbij behorende reizen verkoopt, ging verleden jaar van start. Het bereikte ongeveer een miljoen digitale kabelhuishoudens, maar wist onvoldoende kopers te trekken. De voornaamste geldschieter trok zich in december terug en het bedrijf vroeg surseance van betaling aan.

Liberty TV werkte met een licentie van het in Luxemburg gevestigde internationale Liberty TV. In andere landen gaat het wel goed met het verkopen van reizen via televisie, maar daar is het potentiële bereik - en dus het aanbod aan klanten - veel groter. In Nederland is ondanks de snelle opmars van digitale televisie het bereik nog beperkt en is Liberty TV wellicht met het juiste idee iets te vroeg op de markt verschenen.

No action of the European Commission against Apple for exclusive contracts with telecomoperators

The European Commission will not take any action against the exclusive contracts between Apple and telecomoperators for dealing the iPhone. The right of establishing exclusive contracts between Apple and telecomoperators must be judged on national level.

De Europese Commissie onderneemt voorlopig geen actie tegen de exclusieve deals tussen Apple en telecomoperatoren voor de verdeling van de iPhone. "De verenigbaarheid van exclusieve contracten tussen Apple iPhone en telecomoperatoren met de wetgeving over oneerlijke handelspraktijken en oneerlijke concurrentie moet beoordeeld worden door de nationale autoriteiten en rechtbanken. De Commissie volgt de rechtszaken op nationaal niveau op de voet", antwoordde eurocommissaris voor Consumentenzaken Meglena Kuneva.

De Commissie beklemtoont wel dat de consument de vrijheid moet hebben om zelf de operator te kiezen waarmee hij wil bellen. Een Europese richtlijn uit 1993 over de voorwaarden bij contracten tussen consumenten en verkopers verbiedt een beperking van de keuzevrijheid voor de consument. In dat geval kan het contract als niet-bindend voor de consument worden beschouwd, zo merkt Kuneva op.

We prefer wine when the wine is more expensive

The more expensive you make the same bottle of wine, the better the wine is do people think. That is a conclusion of a British research. For the English test 20 people had to drink Cabernet Sauvignon. The only information they received was the price of the bottle. And the outcome was: if the same wine costs 7 euros and afterwards over the 50 euros, the most expensive was the most appreciated, altough it was actually the same wine. The same test was done a week later without any price difference and there it could be concluded that there was no difference.

Hoe duurder je dezelfde fles wijn maakt, hoe beter mensen hem gaan vinden. Tot die conclusie komt Brits onderzoek. Voor de Engelse test moesten twinting mensen Cabernet Sauvignon drinken. Ze kregen alleen de prijs van de fles te horen. En wat bleek: als dezelfde wijn zeven euro kost en daarna dik over de vijftig, bleek de duurste variant volgens de proevers 'veel beter'. Een week later werd dezelfde test gedaan zonder prijsverschillen, en toen werd er geen verschil geproefd.

Delhaize lowers the price of 500 national brand products

Delhaize lowers the price of more than 500 national brand products. In this manner the retailer wants to strengthen its price positioning. The price decrease will be carried out in the supermarkets of Delhaize, AD Delhaize, City Delhaize, Proxy Delhaize and Shop'n Go of the Delhaize group in Belgium. These prices are defined with the help of a weekly comparison of more than 300.000 products in more than 140 competing shops. Based on this comparison the best competitive price is determined.

Delhaize verlaagt vanaf vandaag de prijs van ruim vijfhonderd producten van nationale merken. Op die manier wil de detailhandelsgroep haar prijspositionering versterken.De prijsverlaging wordt doorgevoerd in de supermarkten Delhaize, AD Delhaize, City Delhaize, Proxy Delhaize en Shop 'n Go van de groep in België. De prijzen van producten van nationale merken worden bepaald op basis van een wekelijkse prijsvergelijking van meer dan 300.000 producten uit meer dan 140 concurrerende winkels. Op basis van de vergelijking wordt steeds "een competitieve prijs" bepaald.

Agricultural products will continue to increase in price

The price of agricultural products will continue to increase according to an expert in 2008. While the foodindex of the FAO increased by 40% in 2007, the analist Joe Victor foresees that this trend will at least continue until april 2008. Then there will be more clarity about the new harvests.

De prijs van landbouwproducten zal volgens een expert blijven stijgen in 2008. Terwijl de voedingsindex van het FAO, de VN-organisatie voor voeding en landbouw, in 2007 steeg met bijna 40 procent, voorspelt analist Joe Victor dat de tendens zich minstens tot in april 2008 zal doorzetten. Dan zal er meer duidelijkheid zijn over de nieuwe oogsten.

Een van de redenen is dat China zijn exporttaksen op graan, rijst en soja optrekt van 5 naar 25 procent. Rusland vervijfvoudigt bijna de taksen op export per ton graan voor drie maanden. Argentinië verbiedt zelfs de uitvoer van graan, terwijl de oogst in Australië tegenvalt door de droogte. De hoge olieprijs zorgt dan weer voor een grotere vraag naar graan en maïs als grondstoffen voor biobrandstof, wat op zijn beurt de prijs weer opdrijft.

Source: Belga/gb

Why Apple changed its tune in Europe

The news this morning that the European Commission has dropped its unfair pricing case against Apple (AAPL) raises the question about how the company got into this mess in the first place.

The issue stems from a basic discrepancy: British customers have been paying 79 pence per song on iTunes (about $1.63 in today’s currency market) while the rest of Europe was paying .99 euros — roughly 20% less. The British Office of Fair Trading filed a complaint with the European Commission, which in early April formally charged Apple and four music labels (EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music Group) with anti-competitive pricing.

This was no laughing matter. According to Thompson Financial, the EC has the power to fine companies up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover for breaching EU antitrust rules. An Apple spokesperson at the time made it clear that the company blamed its partners in the music industry: “Apple has always wanted to operate a single, pan-European iTunes store, accessible by anyone from any member state. But we were advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us. We do not believe the company did anything to violate EU law, and we will continue to work with the EU to resolve this matter.”

It’s not quite that simple. Even when Apple cut that deal, back in May 2006, the company was under pressure from the music publishers to relax its one-price-fits-all policy and allow the labels to charge more for some content and less for other stuff — the very issue that has gummed up Apple’s negotiations with Hollywood and the TV networks. What twisted logic led to the county-by-country pricing scheme is still not clear, but Apple obviously went along with it — and found itself in the EC’s crosshairs.

The problem went away today. The EC closed its case against Apple and the four music labels, and in return Apple agreed to equalize pricing across its European iTunes stores within six months.

Again price increase of KLM for the fuel surcharge

KLM increases the fuel surcharge for flights in Europe with € 2,00. On all intercontinental flights the prices are increased by € 8,00. That is the reaction of KLM against the strongly increased fuelprices.

The increase of the surcharge is valid for KLM tickets bought in the Netherlands. As of 11 January the fuelsurcharge for European flights is € 29,00 and for intercontinental flights € 88,00.

KLM verhoogt de brandstoftoeslag op vluchten binnen Europa met twee euro. Op alle intercontinentale vluchten worden de prijzen met acht euro verhoogd. Dat doet de KLM in reactie op de sterk gestegen brandstofprijzen, zegt de luchtvaartmaatschappij.

De verhoging van de toeslag geldt voor in Nederland gekochte KLM-tickets. Met ingang van 11 januari bedraagt de brandstoftoeslag 29 euro per traject op Europese vluchten en 88 euro per traject op intercontinentale vluchten.

Apple working to resolve EC's iTunes claims

Apple is expected to announce steps in the near future to resolve charges from the European Commission, which state that its iTunes Store violates EU law by offering varying pices on a country by country basis. Following the forthcoming announcement, the European Union regulator will likely announce the closure of the case, according to Reuters.

The European Commission announced in early 2007 that Apple had broken EU law by striking a deal with major record labels to restrict cross-country access to its iTunes Store tracks, forcing some European customers to pay more for the same music as their neighboring countries.The closure of potential fines or further legal action against the Cupertino-based company will strengthen investor confidence and eliminate another potential unexpected decrease in profits.