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Panasonic Coming To The Rescue For In-Flight Internet?
from the save-us! dept
A few weeks ago, Boeing made news for announcing its plans to shut down its in-flight broadband offering, Connexion. While the company had a few takers (all outside of the US), it was proving too expensive to equip planes and then to run the service. Some existing users were pretty upset by the fact that they might not be able to use the internet in the air going forward, but it looks like Panasonic is coming to the rescue. They're not looking at taking over the Boeing service, but claim they've figured out a way to use a similar approach so that they can easily switch existing Connexion-outfitted planes to their own service (which they also claim is faster and cheaper). You knew that someone else was going to get into this business, and it's actually nice to see Panasonic step in with a solution that tries to build on what Boeing already had put in place. Panasonic is using the death of Connexion smartly for their own marketing efforts, asking airlines that currently use the system to commit to switch over within 60 days, to avoid any downtime for fliers. It's good that many existing in-flight internet services will continue, but the real issue is always initial installation. If it still costs too much (or grounds a plane for too long) then it's never going to get enough traction to be profitable.
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thank goodness
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What do we need in-flight Internet for?
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Re: What do we need in-flight Internet for?
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werd
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who cares
i dont understand why the topic gets so much attention, not only here but at tons of other tech sites
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Many Care
10hrs in a cramped seat, watching the same movies over and over, and you'd love to escape to cyberland.... maybe at least catch up on email... or chat with your wife back at home on msn/yahoo/google/aol.
Who cares? Please.
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with i-net in the air, isn't it possible to plan and execute a terroris attack as well? plus possible updates and such?
i dunno.
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short flights - wind down, relax, read a book
long flights - be productive, do billable work
Internet access would be beneficial on those long flights - particularly international flights - when I'm trying to be productive or need something more entertaining (or distracting) than the crap movies they show (and charge for the headset) or the screaming baby seated behind me.
There's a new movie for ya - Babies on Planes.
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Re: who cares
Sometimes having a PC or a book, or something else is all they need to help keep sanity in a 10hr+ fl;ight. Multiple times a month.
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Yay MAS!
to build the premier in-flight entertainment
system. This is just the gravy...
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I agree with Wired on his comment.
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Re: What do we need in-flight Internet for?
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Price for consumers?
Of course I won't pay for internet service at a coffee shop either, but there are people who do.
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