Philip Morris International (PMI) has started selling the cigarette maker’s heated tobacco device Iqos in Austin, Texas, to further its smoking alternatives in the United States.
PMI hosted demonstrations and guided trials for adults at last week’s Austin MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas and at pop-up stores, including one location in downtown Austin. Iqos is an electronic device that heats tobacco-filled sticks wrapped in paper to generate a nicotine-containing aerosol. It is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a modified risk tobacco product (MRTP).
“We've been on a mission to change the trajectory of public health globally and that also includes the United States,” Francisca Rahardja, vice president and chief marketing officer for inhalables at PMI U.S., told CSP on Friday. “We’re really focused on introducing these smoke-free products.”
There are about 45 million adult consumers above the age of 21 who use nicotine on a regular basis, and 30 million of those people still use the most harmful form of nicotine, which is combustible cigarettes, she said.
“Our strategy is really to provide better alternatives for these 30-plus million adult smokers to consider smoke free alternatives such as Iqos,” Rahardja said.
Rahardja said the device in Austin sells for $60 and the accompanying tobacco sticks for $8.
Following events in Austin, PMI said Iqos is commercially available at select mobile locations and through Iqos coaches and will be available for purchase online in “late” April.
In October 2024, PMI launched “Be the First,” a pilot consumer experience designed to introduce Iqos to legal-age nicotine consumers in Austin. PMI said more than 5,000 people have joined the Iqos Circle waitlist, "showing strong demand for smoke-free alternatives."
“Approximately 4.3 million Texans over the age of 21 regularly consume nicotine, and about 80% of them do so in the most harmful way—by smoking cigarettes. Austin, a city known for tech and innovation, was chosen to launch Iqos to provide a better alternative for Austinites 21 and older,” said Stacey Kennedy, PMI U.S. CEO in a statement.
In reporting its fourth-quarter earnings in February, PMI said smoke-free products accounted for 40% of total net revenues. “Our smoke-free business is large, profitable and growing fast,” CEO Jacek Olczak told investors on the earnings call.
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