InfoWorld reports on Panasonic’s eXConnect service which will offer high speed Internet access to passengers in-flight. The headline says this would be bringing back high speed Internet access to the skies in 2009 but as posted earlier on this blog, Gogo is slated to launch in 2008 with their version of Internet on a plane. The article does state that the eXConnect service will be the first intercontinental in-flight Internet service since Boeing’s Connexion service shut down in 2006.
In-flight Internet was first launched in mid-2004 when Lufthansa began rolling out the service on its long-haul jets. Many major Asian and European airlines followed with the service but the big U.S. airlines, still reeling at the time from the chaos brought on by the 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., never signed on to the service. In the end, Boeing decided to close Connexion before it took off.
Pricing is yet to be finalized, but Panasonic is looking at around $12 per hour or $22 per day, which is also close to the pricing of the defunct Connexion service.
A USA Today article speaks to a move by US airlines to give economy passengers greater control and selection of movies, audio, and games.
Airlines worldwide spent $1.4 billion on in-flight entertainment hardware last year, research firm IMDC says. It’s projected to increase to more than $2 billion by 2012. The result: monitors in individual seatbacks, digital transmission for clearer picture, on-demand delivery that lets passengers pause and rewind, hundreds of movie and song titles, games beyond Hangman and Sudoku, seat-to-seat texting and even e-mail.
Most travelers and analysts agree that foreign airlines have been more aggressive about adopting the latest and fanciest features.
via USA Today
PopCap Games, the leading multi-platform provider of “casual games” (fun, easy-to-learn, captivating computer games that appeal to all ages) has announced the results of a study they commissioned that examined the effects of casual gaming on reducing a player’s levels of stress, anger, depression, fatigue and confusion. The study used three PopCap Games titles, Bejeweled® 2, Peggle, and Bookworm Adventures, games that are all or in part available on selected IFE systems. The six month long study was administered by East Carolina University’s Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies and directed by Dr. Carmen Russoniello, associate professor of recreational therapy and director of the Psychophysiology Lab and Biofeedback Clinic at ECU’s College of Health and Human Performance.
So, the next time you find yourself on a flight and want to reduce your levels of stress, anger, depression, fatigue or confusion perhaps looking at what casual games might be available on the IFE system is in order so you’ll arrive at your destination is a better mood.
via PopCap PR
Flickr user Crashworks has some excellent pics of Virgin America’s RED IFE system in action. Below are some samples.
in-seat chat
games
television
maps
power
This email from a BOL listener was read on the Buzz Out Loud podcast #714…
Dear Buzzards,
I was in the cockpit over the eastern U.S. the other day and decided to take out my laptop and look up some technical data on the 737 I was flying. At the unnamed American Airline I fly for we have recently begun carrying our manuals in digital format. When I booted up I noticed that wireless networks were available. This is quite common and is usually someone’s laptop in the cabin. Just out of curiosity, however, I opened up the Wi-Fi window and saw that the signal was from an aircraft with Wi-Fi service that was flying just above and ahead of us. I knew it was from that airplane because the signal identified itself as being from a particular U.S. airline, (which will also remain unnamed), that has Wi-Fi service and we heard their call sign on our frequency. That got me thinking about the proposed balloon network you talked about a while back and I was wondering if you couldn’t come up with an airline mesh network. Our airline alone has more than 2,500 flights a day and the sky is always packed with airliners. Have you ever had to sit in the air an extra hour in a holding pattern because there were too many airplanes in a given block of airspace ahead of you? ATC is always having to speed up, slow down and vector traffic to maintain legal separation. If all those airliners were equipped to create a mesh network you could easily defer the cost of the equipment as well as compensate the airlines for the service. It might even help keep travel costs down. Maybe it’s silly but it seems as valid an idea as balloons.
Keep up the good work,
Vic the Texas Pilot Rancher
Too bad its probably a long shot for a mesh network like that to become a reality.
Many IFE systems in service these days offer some form of on-demand entertainment whether that be audio only or a full selection of audio and video. The issue being how much faith do you put into the choices the airline will offer to you on your flight? Would you be better off bringing your own entertainment? At least with BYOE you’ll know the entertainment you have will be to your liking. Several years ago we took our then toddler on an overseas flight and decided to go the BYOE route. Can’t remember if the video iPod was available at the time but we did not have one. Even if we did the screen size would have been too small for our toddler. We brought along a portable DVD player and a library of DVDs that she enjoyed so we were covered on the entertainment front. The down side was having to carry the DVD player, the DVDs, and an extra battery (power ports were not widely available at the time) onto the aircraft in our carryon bags. Not sure what we’ll do on our next family vacation that includes a long haul flight. Do we do the BYOE thing again or hope the AVOD offering for kids will be things the kids will enjoy? Well, there’s always the option to use the iPhone as a BYOE back-up.
Gogo is the internet, on a plane. Gogo (powered by Aircell) enables email access, web browsing, and VPN access at mobile broadband speeds, using a devices built-in Wi-Fi capability. Gogo is launching in 2008 on select flights on American Airlines and Virgin America. The Gogo site includes a map of premium routes that will be offering the Gogo in-flight service. Pricing is not mentioned. You can also sign-up to a mailing list to be kept advised as Gogo adds routes and airlines.
The big question is how much are you willing to pay to be connected while in-flight?
Latest Comments
RSS