The explosion in passenger use of e-readers, cell phones, tablets and notebooks, and the increasing expectation that these devices be connected in-flight served as the subject for a lively discussion by panellists Philips, Intel, Cisco and Ericsson during last week’s APEX education day.
“Over the next two years it’s going to hit you like a freight train,” warned R.W (Ted) Nugent, the business development manager of aviation and aerospace at Cisco.
Understanding how other industries have tackled the mass take-up of personal electronic devices is important for airlines as they look to support their passengers. Intel, for instance, explained how it supplies “In Vehicle Infotainment” to the automobile world.
“To anticipate some of these needs in the industry you need an open, flexible infrastructure. You need processing power on the airplane that can adapt to the changing needs of the devices,” says Ulmont Smith, VP and general manager of Intel’s worldwide advanced technical sales.
The BYOD concept has already taken flight, yet onboard systems have been largely inadequate in providing PEDs with the connections they need to stream entertainment from sources such as Netflix or Amazon. Entertainment that passengers with the “rights to watch are going to want to watch,” says Leszek Izdebski, director of the media and entertainment group service provider team at Cisco. “Today there is an ‘I want it now’ mentality.”
But challenges still exist. “We know exactly what we want,” says one representative from Scandinavian Airlines. “We have the same visions that you have, but whatever you put on an aircraft has to be approved.”
September 26, 2012 at 1:40 am
BYOD is all very good but I have said this before on twitter what if you don’t have a tablet or a smart phone then what will the airline lend you one or rent you one ? That of course brings in problems with people stealing them or forgetting to return the device and another problem for people who are less technically minded will be operating the device ? Will the airline explain how the device works. Lots of things to think of before BYOD will work for all passengers.
October 1, 2012 at 3:44 am
BYOD/BYOM (media)…..I wonder how airlines will manage the potentially disastrous issue of ‘unfettered customer content’ that passengers with BYOD will elect to watch? I was recently surprised as I watched my own media whilst flying on Delta, DVD using a laptop with 11″ screen…..when a ‘bedroom scene’ appeared without warning as part of the visual narrative, causing me to quickly locate and apply the ‘reduced screen size’ icon!
Is it possible that in order to mitigate the effects on nearby passengers of potentially offensive material being viewed on-board (porn, violence…..the list of opportunities is infinite) will we see airlines introducing specific protocols via their ‘conditions of carriage’ or pre-flight warnings? Presumably and airline would want to have a means to empower cabin crew to issue a ‘cease and desist’ notice to passengers who insist on watching potentially offensive material (and then there’s the question as to how will that be defined…)?
In the age of “I want it all and I want it now” in terms of entertainment, some BYOD media on board is certainly going create growing problems unless some clear ground rules are established.
Or is it felt that are there already sufficient safeguards in place?