Pepsico Diversification into yogurt.

Wasn't sure where to put this, but thought it was interesting:

PepsiCo is branching into Yogurt!

But there's a problem: "Müller by Quaker also seeks to address one of the biggest consumer complaints about yogurt: its texture. Consumers find Greek yogurts dry and chalky, while conventional yogurt is seen as watery and tasteless."

What has America done to Yogurt? In Australia and Europe we tend to see it as so creamy and delicious. It can't be that hard for the yogurt companies to put a bit of natural fruit and natural gum thickener in it to make fix this problem, surely (in Australia they have gelatine, but that means it's not suitable for Muslims or Jewish consumers). I generally add berries or honey to my yogurt, or buy a yogurt sweetened by natural juices or fruit, and if I can do it, surely Pepsico can do it to improve the taste and appeal more to American tastebuds, right?

Also from the article:
“The cola wars have abated,” said John Faucher, the beverage analyst at JPMorgan Chase. “Pepsi is now focused on growing all the beverages it sells — teas, juices, Gatorade — and not just selling more carbonated soda than Coke at the expense of profit margins.”

This seems to me to be an interesting change in strategy. Will PepsiCo start being viewed as a "health" company like "Sanitarium" one day?

What's everyones view?

I think PepsiCo will still be competing with Cocacola Amatil, just on drinks like energy drinks, sports drinks, juices, flavoured water, etc, where they have an opportunity to grow the market at the expense of cola drinks existing market share. Will this move cannibalise their sales, or CocaCola? Will General Mills and Dannon be a less formidable competitor than Cocacola? Is yogurt a growth market PepsiCo can capitalise on in America?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/business/pepsic…

Ps. Sorry if this is old news to some.