DigEcor, the manufacturer of the low-cost portable IFE solution digEplayer L7 and L10, has announced several new future products and developments, ranging from wireless streaming, a ruggedised Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 with spare battery attached, to an embedded IFE solution utilising its existing products.
“We have a streaming solution to bring your own devices,” says digEcor sales director Ben Fuller. “Were pretty hardware agnostic, meaning as long as the server or the plane meets the minimum spec to stream, we can mesh within each system, and stream to Google Android and Apple iOS devices currently. It’s in the roadmap to get into the Amazon Kindle and Windows devices, but they are not finished at this point.” The wireless streaming system is expected to be rolled out soon, although no launch partners have been announced to date.
The next product detailed by Fuller is a rugged case for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, which tackles multiple problems while maintaining a low footprint. “Were developing a ruggedized exterior case for it for multiple viewing angles and this is the cool part here, a removable battery with battery life indicators that will extend the battery life to 18-20 hours,” says Fuller. “We found that a lot of airlines are buying 2 or 3 per seat for long haul flights and swapping them out, and have to spend time recharging them. With the additional battery power, airlines can reduce weight and clutter by putting fewer tablets into service.”
After initial trialing a partially embedded IFE solution with Gulf Air, digEcor is ready to move into the fully embedded market. “We’re expanding to a fully embedded solution to provide a low-cost, fully embedded solution with our existing players,” says Fuller. The firm is working with undisclosed partners to bring the solution to fruition, and says the system will be available in the first quarter of 2013 at an “extremely competitive” price point. “Currently, it will be using our existing L7 and L10 players embedded in the seat back. There will be multiple options for uploading the data onto a control unit that will be on the airplane. Our hardware solution is unique.”
In addition to the launch of the new hardware and embedded solutions, digEcor is introducing a new content loading portal, as well as in-flight gambling capabilities.
September 25, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Seems “bring your own device” is the next big thing in IFE. Does it translate into savings for the airline? I have to assume it does. That brings me to my next question – do those savings get passed back to to passengers, or will the airlines just bolster profitability. I assume the customer gets nothing in the deal. The last question – have the airlines considered that we want to be able to use our devices once we step off the plane. Are they finally going to give all seating proper easily accessible power jacks?
September 25, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Kevin-
The answer for whether an airline will see savings out of the wireless IFE game is tricky. For some airlines, it means adding an IFE solution to a fleet where they never thought possible, due to cost issues. For other airlines, it means all the benefits of having IFE, without the burden of added weight. Some airlines may just be adding it to supplement their existing IFE, such as Delta.
What the customer gets is the benefit of being able to use their own device, and in some cases, watch their content after they leave the aircraft.
When Delta announced that they will be upgrading their entire wifi enabled fleet to have wireless IFE streaming, I did indeed ask about power. Sadly, it wont be a common thing anytime soon.
Delta plans on adding power ports to all first/biz class seats, as well as Economy Comfort seats on their international fleet. Better bring a bigger battery.
September 26, 2012 at 5:28 am
Such a shame that power isn’t part of Delta’s announcement, though I flew transcon on US Airways and Alaska Airlines – first class – in the last week and both offered NO in-seat power. Desperate… I had inflight Wi-Fi and no juice. I guess I could have hogged the lav and plugged in my devices. But nobody wants that
September 26, 2012 at 1:03 pm
I’ve always wanted to stand in the bathroom for 30 minutes while I charge my device. Who needs first class.