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MMP licensing rates have begun to increase as "first-mover" MMP Portfolio licensing berths continue to be steadily captured by global leaders.
DigEplayer sales heat up
8 September 2005
SPRINGVILLE, Utah - "The last four weeks have seen a heavy increase in sales with more on the way," said Brent Wood, CEO of APS and Wencor. According to Wood, the reason can be summed up in four words: "Products, Innovation, Content, and Service."
Airline flight attendants like the system because it keeps passengers smiling. The standard response from Alaska Airlines flight attendants, according to Chase Craig, Product Marketing Analyst, Alaska Airlines, is "It's simple to use and easy to pass out to customers. Passengers always look forward to using them."
The digEplayer, winner of the IFE (In-flight Entertainment) Product of the Year Award (IPEC/LARA conference 2004) and the world's first self-contained, portable video on demand (VOD) entertainment unit preprogrammed with movies, television shows, cartoons, videos, music, airline destination information, promotions and advertising is carving a niche in portable in-flight entertainment.
"Since Wencor acquired APS, the firm has made great strides in customer service and additional product innovation on the digEplayer 5500," said Wood, "helping us maintain our leadership position in the portable IFE market."
"Not only have sales increased," continued Wood, "but we're starting to see customers reordering more digEplayers. 8 airlines have already ordered additional players, which is a testimony to their satisfaction."
After receiving competitive proposals, Martinair, a leading transcontinental airline in Europe, purchased 900 digEplayers, allowing them to place 120 units on each of their long-haul aircraft.
"Martinair chose the digEplayer after a careful selection process in which all operational departments were involved," said Karin Venema, Purchasing, Cabins and Interiors, Martinair. " The main reasons were the ease of use and the good balance between price and quality."
MAXjet recently signed an agreement with APS:
"I'm thrilled that MAXjet will offer digEplayers onboard our international flights," said Gary Rogliano, CEO. "Now our passengers will be able to customize their travel experience even more with an unparalleled selection of movies, TV shows, music and In-flight travel literature."
Last year Alaska Airlines achieved the "IFE Service of the Year Award" for airlines at last years IPEC/LARA conference, due in large part to the digEplayer. They have customers ordering the player in advance via the Internet to make sure they receive a player. Alaska even optimizes space on their aircraft to increase the amount of digEplayers onboard to meet passenger demand.
"The digEplayer is a hit," said Craig. "It's a great way to keep our passengers entertained. It's easy to use, maintain, and hand out."
The digEplayer has new features, including Ethernet, which allows easy uploading of content with more features to come.
Some passengers have liked the digEplayer so much, they've sent APS mail:
"My girlfriend recently flew to the East Coast and rented a digEplayer. She was very impressed with the device, and has gone on and on about how great it was and how it made the flight more pleasurable."
Rick
"I fly Alaska frequently, am gold on it, and very much enjoy your product."
Steven
Each digEplayer is about the same weight and size of a typical portable DVD player. Units contain a 40-gigabyte hard drive and utilize the latest technology.
About APS & Wencor Wencor has been involved in the aviation business for over 55 years. With the acquisition of APS, the firm has entered into the IFE market, developing cutting edge technology and new designs. Wencor is based in Springville, UT, with offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Arizona, Miami, London, Amsterdam, Singapore, and Shanghai. For more information about digEplayer, visit http://www.digeplayer.com .
Wencor to provide digEsystem on B/E Aerospace Spectrum Seats
9 June 2005
M2 Presswire
SPRINGVILLE, Utah - Wencor today announced an agreement with B/E Aerospace, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAV) to provide Wencor's digEsystem, a new lightweight, state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment (IFE) system on B/E's Spectrum economy class seats.
Wencor's digEsystem's architecture is flexible, scalable and uses innovative system and component design techniques. The lightweight solution eliminates the complex and heavy equipment needed for traditional IFE systems and makes it easier to maintain and certify. The system supports a wireless network reducing installation complexity costs and improves reliability. The integrated IFE system will be offered as a certified option on the Spectrum economy class seat.
"We're excited about the opportunity we now have to team up with the largest seat manufacturer in world," said Brent Wood, CEO of Wencor. "The expertise and synergy each firm brings to the table will allow passengers to sit in comfort while enjoying the cutting edge design, ease of use and wide variety of entertainment choices the digEsystem has to offer."
The digEsystem is the first and only truly configurable embedded IFE system, allowing airlines the option of providing entertainment to any cabin, zone, seat or passenger on any flight, on any aircraft. It gives passengers a wide array of cabin entertainment options, including Audio/Video On Demand (AVOD). The system can be programmed with movies, television shows, cartoons, videos, music, as well as airline destination information, promotions and advertising, providing an avenue for generating revenue for airlines.
"Wencor's innovative IFE system is a nice complement to our Spectrum seating platform," said Kenneth Rusterholz, Vice President and General Manager - Seating Products, B/E Aerospace. "It allows our customers a cost effective and timely solution for IFE on both new and existing single-aisle aircraft."
More about the DigEsystem and Wencor
The digEsystem includes a credit card reader which allows the capture of funds, easing flight attendants involvement. The unit comes with an eight inch Liquid Crystal Display with a touch screen that gives passengers easy access to all content options. The system is also modular and can standalone in an embedded IFE environment.
Wencor has been involved in the aviation business for over 55 years. With the acquisition of APS, the firm has entered into the IFE market, developing cutting edge technology and new designs. Wencor is based in Springville, UT, with offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, London, Amsterdam, Singapore, and China. For more information about the digEsystem, visit http://www.wencor.com , or call 801-489-2120.
See us at the Paris Air Show, Hall 2B Space H1.
More about Spectrum and B/E Aerospace
Spectrum is B/E's newest innovation in main cabin seating and represents the company's most successful product launch in its history. Through concurrent engineering with customer focus groups, Spectrum provides greater comfort and living space than other competitive seating products and reduces the airline's total cost of ownership as a result of its unique platform design. Versions of B/E's Spectrum seats have been selected by 48 airlines and leasing companies worldwide.
B/E Aerospace, Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of aircraft cabin interior products, and a leading aftermarket distributor of aerospace fasteners. B/E designs, develops and manufactures a broad range of products for both commercial aircraft and business jets. B/E manufactured products include seating, lighting, oxygen, and food and beverage preparation and storage equipment. The Company also provides cabin interior design, reconfiguration and passenger-to-freighter conversion services. Products for the existing aircraft fleet -- the
aftermarket -- generate about 60 percent of sales. B/E sells its
products through its own global direct sales organization. For more information, visit B/E's website at http://www.beaerospace.com .
Independence Air to Offer digEplayer Entertainment System
Independence Air to Offer digEplayer Entertainment System on All Flights To/From the West Coast; Unlimited Viewing of Wide Selection of Movies, TV Shows and Music Just $10 Per Flight
27 April 2005
DULLES, Va., April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Independence Air is now proud to offer the digEplayer(TM) personal inflight media player to customers on all flights between Washington Dulles and the West Coast -- including Las Vegas, San Diego and the new flights to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Jose that will begin on Sunday.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031119/DCW018LOGO-a )
The digEplayer is a portable viewer with a super-clear seven-inch screen that allows unlimited on-demand viewing of a wide selection of movies, TV shows, music videos and audio channels -- for a fee of just $10 per flight, including headphones. The menu of titles will be refreshed every 60 days. Independence Air digEplayer selections include:
-- 10 or more full-length feature movies, including several for children and families -- 10-15 episodes of hit TV comedies and other network programs -- A selection of music videos featuring pop, rock, country and hip-hop stars -- 100 song titles covering a full range of musical genres -- Plus, Independence Air-exclusive comedy shorts starring "The FLYi Guy"(SM)
Senior Vice President of Marketing Eric Nordling said, "We've been testing the digEplayer on our West Coast flights this month, and based on the reactions from those who've experienced it so far, we expect it to be a hit. Our customers love the fact that they have total control over exactly which movies, TV shows and music they want to choose, plus, with this much content available you can fly several times a month and still never work your way through the entire menu. That's pretty good value for just ten bucks per flight."
Independence Air currently offer low fares to 42 destinations with comfortable leather seats and Tender Loving Service(SM). Flights from Washington to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Jose begin Sunday, May 1. For more information about FLYi, Inc. and Independence Air, please visit our website at FLYi.com.
Independence Air is the low-fare airline that makes travel fast and easy for its customers with a customer first attitude, innovative thinking and a willingness to challenge the status quo.
Independence Air, the "i" logo mark, FLYi, the FLYi Guy, FLYi.com, Tender Loving Service and Go Your Own Way are service marks of Independence Air, Inc.
Web site: http://www.flyi.com/
CONTACT: Rick DeLisi, Director, Corporate Communications of IndependenceAir, +1-703-650-6019
Lure Of 'digEplayer' Grows As Airlines Zero In On Revenue Gains
6 December 2004
Airline Business Report
Handheld Units Could Nudge Out Embedded In-Flight Entertainment Systems
A small company that was hawking handheld entertainment devices at the beginning of the year is gaining critical mass by selling the units to airlines trying to improve customer service and boost revenues. The portable devices are called digEplayers, and some airlines in the United States and Europe view them as a cost-effective way to lure passengers away from low-fare carriers that offer satellite television at every seat, such as JetBlue Airways [JBLU] and Frontier Airlines [FRNT]. The handheld units are often provided free for first class passengers, while those in coach pay around $10.
The digEplayer is made and marketed by APS, based in Tacoma, Wash. Alaska Airlines [ALK] began offering the handheld units early this year on some routes, followed by Hawaiian Airlines. The airline industry is becoming increasingly interested in gauging customer responses. The latest carrier to offer the digEplayer is North American Airlines. It apparently has high hopes for the technology, which offers first-run movies, television shows, children's programming, music and video games, among other things. The airline began offering the digEplayer in mid-November on many flights from Oakland, Calif., to Hawaii.
The carrier's chief operating officer, Steve Harfst, said passengers are charged $10 per unit, although the systems can be split so that two people can use them without paying an additional fee. North American Airlines does not have a first class section, so everyone pays the same amount. The airline purchased the handheld devices and soon will evaluate initial data to gauge their popularity. "The initial reaction we received is very, very positive, so the expectation is that we will put the units on all flights from Oakland to Hawaii," Harfst said in an interview with Airline Business Report.
In November, North American Airlines got the green light from the Mexican government to fly between Oakland and Mexico City. It had already received permission from the U.S. government. Anticipating solid passenger demand for the digEplayers, it expects to offer them on flights to Mexico City, too. In addition, it is likely the carrier will offer the units on scheduled flights from New York to destinations such as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, according to Harfst. He noted that the digEplayer is especially suited to these routes because passengers can select from various languages.
North American Airlines offers about 80 digEplayers on some flights between Oakland and Hawaii, less than half of the number of seats available. The airline knows the booking patterns and puts the units on the flights with the most passengers.
The digEplayer can hold up to 60 feature length movies. Each unit is about the same weight and size of a portable DVD player. Units contain a 40- gigabyte hard drive.
Bill Boyer, chairman and founder of APS, says airlines can save substantially on their fuel bills by using the digEplayer because the portable devices are not embedded in the aircraft. However, North American Airlines does not benefit from the fuel savings because its Boeing aircraft (757-200 ERs and 767-300 ERs) already have older versions of in-flight entertainment systems installed. The airline still uses this overhead technology but will likely switch to digEplayers exclusively in the future, according to Harfst.
He is not enamored of the overhead systems, saying the lines that run from every seat are not reliable and do not provide nearly as much content as the digEplayer. He also noted that embedded in-flight entertainment systems are substantially more expensive to install. He declined to say, however, how much the airline spent on the handheld units.
In late October, APS became a wholly owned subsidiary of Wencor, which is based in Springville, Utah. The acquisition allows Wencor to market the digEplayer and accelerate the development of new models built around the video- on-demand entertainment market, according to Brent Wood, Wencor's chief executive officer. Wencor is a company engaged in aircraft product and parts distribution.
Europe's low-cost carrier Ryanair [RYAAY] also has been smitten by the digEplayer. It introduced the devices on five aircraft this month and plans to gradually offer them on its entire 82-aircraft fleet over the winter, making in- flight entertainment available to all passengers by March 2005. Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, said the carrier is the first low-fare airline in Europe to offer all customers the latest Hollywood movies and other features.
Aeroflot Russian International Airlines [AERZF.PK] will offer digEplayers to travelers throughout destinations in Europe. Aeroflot will initially make the units available on its new Airbus mid-range fleet and its Iiyushin 96 long-range fleet. The units will offer passengers 15 movies with multi-language tracks, including Russian, English and Japanese, as well as 20 sitcoms and up to 1,000 music tracks. Aeroflot will distribute the digEplayer in business and first class during phase one of their project. In the second phase, the airline will offer the units to coach service for a still-to-be determined rental charge.
Some airlines are testing handheld entertainment devices other than the digEplayer. American Airlines [AMR] may offer portable entertainment devices on its entire fleet. Instead of evaluating the digEplayer, it is testing a handheld unit called the Pea. The carrier is conducting initial market research on transcontinental and long-haul domestic flights. And United Airlines [UALAQ] recently completed a test of a DVD player made by Panasonic. Passengers flying on Ted, United's low-cost unit, paid $12 for the devices on flights between Denver and Fort Lauderdale, according to Jeff Green, a United spokesman. The handheld devices, which offered about 10 movies, were given free to first class and business travelers on United flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to New York. Green said the test is being evaluated to gauge the popularity of the DVD players.
Steve Harfst, North American Airlines (718) 656-2650; Bill Boyer, APS, go through Dan Bean, (425) 793-6313; Brent Wood, Wencor, (801) 489- 2000; Billy Sanez, American Airlines, (817) 967-1577; Jeff Green, United Airlines, (847) 700-4206.
Has IMS/Pea secured the same data content providers?
#6 Aeroflot, #7 Monarch
see my previous post
The digeplayer is already in service on three airlines including Alaska and has been ordered by a further eight, among them Aeroflot, Monarch and KLM.
Baggage handler with designs on multi-million pound Ryanair deal
Michael Harrison Business Editor
22 September 2004
The Independent
ITS INVENTOR is a 40-year-old baggage handler with Alaska Airlines and his product is being hailed as the next big revolution in low-cost air travel. Welcome to the digeplayer, the latest in in-flight entertainment systems.
The bombastic prediction comes, perhaps not surprisingly, from Ryanair"s Michael O"Leary but the chief executive of Europe"s biggest budget airline has also put his money where his mouth is by buying 6,000 digeplayers worth $12m.
Weighing about 2lbs and roughly the size of a hardback book, the digeplayer is a portable, battery-powered entertainment system capable of storing dozens of Hollywood blockbusters, cartoons, sitcoms, sports and sci-fi programmes on its hard disk.
Ryanair intends to begin trialling them in November on five of its Stansted- based aircraft and then introduce them across the network from April. Passengers will be charged an introductory rate of £5 or EUR7 per flight and will have to hand over their passport or driving licence along with the cash to deter them from walking off the plane with their digeplayer.
The device is the brainchild of Bill Boyer, a design engineer who took a holiday job as a baggage handler with Alaska Airlines in his student days and has stayed there ever since. He is founder, president and chief executive of APS, the company which makes the digeplayer, and he is sitting on a potential fortune.
The digeplayer is already in service on three airlines including Alaska and has been ordered by a further eight, among them Aeroflot, Monarch and KLM.
Ryanair will not disclose how much it is paying for its digeplayers or for the content but it says it will break even selling just five sets per flight and is forecasting $14m of revenues in the first year. Although Ryanair"s Boeing 737s seat 189 passengers, it only plans to stock 24 digeplayers on each flight meaning there could be a stampede to get hold of one, just as there is to get on board. What will Mr O"Leary do to keep disappointed passengers happy? "We"ll sell them more alcohol."
More orders expected....
narrowbodiesPortable revolution.
Graeme Osborn
14 September 2004
Flight International
Personalised in-flight entertainment (IFE) technology has to date largely been in the realm of widebody aircraft, with the systems' size, weight, cost and capabilities not justifying their use on narrowbodies.
However, this looks set to change. A number of companies - APS, General Dynamics Airborne Electronic Systems (GD), IFE Services and IMS - have identified a gap in the market and want to fill it with new portable IFE systems.
Airlines have used hand-held devices before, with the Sony Video Walkman proving a reliable alternative to the early interactive systems and their teething problems in the early 1990s.
Many of the new portable devices are based on consumer equipment but have been adapted for the more rigorous demands of the in-flight market and its security requirements.
Tacoma, Washington-based APS launched its DigEplayer at last year's World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) show, since when it has secured orders from Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Jetsgo.
The portable video-on-demand system has a 20Gb hard drive, weighs 1.3kg (3lb) including battery and is similar in size to a portable consumer DVD player. The battery provides nine to 10 hours of life, supporting 20-30 films, short video programming, cartoons and music. The system incorporates content protection and the battery cannot be recharged without the proprietary charger.
The simplicity and size of the DigEplayer appeal to airlines, says APS, with the cost comparable to a consumer DVD player.
Launch customer Alaska introduced the system into service last October on trans-continental routes. About 40 DigEplayers are carried on each flight, with up to 16 units provided free of charge in first class and the rest in economy class, at a cost of $10 each. The appeal of the DigEplayer to Alaska Airlines was its low weight, simplicity, flexibility and the fact it is a market-based system rather than an aircraft-based one.
Hawaiian Airlines has 96 DigEplayers on its Boeing 767s, free to first-class passengers and $10 for economy class passengers. Hawaiian ordered the DigEplayer after a successful trial of the product, which proved more popular than overhead films.
Canadian low-cost carrier Jetsgo offers the units on its MD-83 and Fokker 100 flights of three hours or longer at $10 each.
More orders are expected at this month's WAEA show in Seattle.
GD's entry into the low-cost, low-weight IFE system market came from customer requests for the manufacturer to incorporate a DVD or hard disc player into its EmPower.Net integrated in-seat power and wireless LAN system, says Brenda O'Leary, manager of sales and marketing.
GD is developing the YES - Your Entertainment Station - family to meet airlines' different IFE needs. YES includes a ruggedised tablet PC with a 25cm (10in) display, a high-resolution graphics video card and high-capacity hard drive. The system, weighing 0.75kg (1.7lb), can store and play about 30 films or 100h of stereo audio and supports video games and web browsing.
GD is developing five YES options, with YES Solo as its portable solution. Weighing 1.4kg, it is a hand-held entertainment station with pre-loaded films, audio and Windows-based games. It operates from a battery or the EmPower in-seat power supply and is offered with an 21cm or 25cm display. YES Solo will be available in early 2005.
UK-based content provider IFE Services has teamed up with French portable audio/video product manufacturer Archos to market and sell its AV340 (40GB) or AV380 (80GB) off-the-shelf devices to the aeronautical and maritime markets.
The systems are adapted for airline use with a longer-life battery or for use with an in-seat power supply. The system comprises a 40GB or 80GB hard drive and a 9.6cm LCD display. The system measures 11.1cm x 8.1cm x 2.8cm and weighs 0.35kg with the battery, which provides six hours of video playback or 10 hours of audio.
IFE Services provides content including movies, sitcoms, advertising and music videos, says the company's Amir Hirani.
The limited battery life is a deterrent to potential thieves because the system can be recharged only by using an encrypted rack charger supplied by IFE Services.
UK holiday airline First Choice Airways is launch customer, putting Archos into service in May in its premium cabin to supplement the embedded IFE system. First Choice may also rent out the systems in economy class.
Latest to the portable IFE market is California-based IMS with its PEA - Portable Entertainment Appliance, which offers 20 to 30 films, 40 CDs, eight interactive games, popular TV programmes, digital newspapers and magazines, e-books and shopping.
Two versions are available - one weighing 1.4kg with a 21cm touchscreen, with keypad capability, and a standard version weighing 1.8kg with a 26cm screen and a mousepad. Battery life is nine to 12 hours.
Chief executive Alan Pellegrini says because PEA is based on commercial off-the-shelf equipment, it can be constantly updated to benefit from developments in technology.
IMS is an IFE software and content management specialist, so it approached PEA from a content rather than hardware point of view in order to secure early-release content.
The result is a system that incorporates stringent security measures, including high-level encryption, sophisticated key management, multiple digital rights management wrappers, physical security on the device and logistical security. Internal access to the PEA is via a proprietary interface, the content will "self-destruct" if the device is carried off the aircraft and the battery can be recharged only in a special pod.
A trial of PEA is planned with an unnamed North American airline by the end of September, says Pellegrini, and a number of other airlines are discussing phased roll-outs.
Airlines have reacted well to PEA, says Pellegrini. "They see that portable solutions offer flexible IFE solutions for aircraft not previously considered for IFE."
Pellegrini says some airlines are considering PEA for their long-haul fleets, which has surprised IMS, although he does not expect portable devices to replace embedded IFE on widebodies. Portable solutions give airlines options, he adds, because many airlines do not have an in-seat solution in economy class and a portable device is a good service recovery option when in-seat IFE does not work.
DivX for Grandma: a review of Alaska Air's video iPod
http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2004/05/divx_for_grandm.html
DivX for Grandma: a review of Alaska Air's video iPod
There has been a lot of speculation in the last year about when a personal video player would go mainstream in the US (they're pretty popular in Japan already), and many are waiting for Apple to take the lead and expand the iPod to serve video. Well, as I found out on a recent cross-country flight on Alaska Airlines, the technology is already here and it's pretty useful.
The digEplayer
The main interface
I'll admit that it's not the most cutting-edge development, as personal video players have been seen in first class cabins for a few years now, and personal DVD players can be rented for one-way use at many airports. When I heard them mentioned at the start of my flight, I figured I'd pay the ten dollar charge (they're free in first class) and see if watching a movie on a small screen was comfortable and what types of music was offered. What eventually piqued my interest about the device was the technology being used.
After we got up to a safe altitude the attendents passed them out and as I was looking over the device I noticed something curious on the back. See for yourself:
Highlighted area states "Content encoded by DivXNetworks, Inc."
I was surprised but impressed that a company called e.Digital had adopted an emerging internet video standard for consumer applications, figured out the studio licensing maze, and sold their services to a major airline. Compression formats like MP3 and DivX were popularized by underground internet trading networks but they've historically been difficult to use and the domain of expert users. In the past couple years however, consumer devices have fought Hollywood industry lawsuits in order to make those formats easy to use. In effect, e.Digital has created the first DivX player my grandmother can use. Kudos to the design team.
Looking inside and taking it for a spin
The device was called a "digEplayer 5500" and was easy to use with a directional wheel, play/pause/seek video controls, brightness and volume controls, and a couple navigation buttons. The display was a widescreen LCD around 7" in size. The main menu offered movies, sitcoms, and music, in addition to some airline info. The player was about the size of three iPods side by side, but still smaller than a laptop. It was about an inch thick and only weighed a pound or so.
Playing movies on the device
The amount of content on the device was more that I would have guessed could fit. There were nine full length movies (three recently in theaters, the other six were common video rentals from the past 2-3 years), three TV shows (including the Simpsons!), and a selection of 10-15 songs in ten different genres. That's roughly 15 hours of video and about 6 hours of music. I would assume the player was hard drive based, to hold that amount of data (a 20Gb laptop drive would be my guess).
Browsing the available music
Movie and TV show playback was smooth, though the content was formated for a standard 4:3 tv set, and widened to fit the 16:9 screen on the handheld (which seems dumb, but I recognized the same "this movie has been formated to fit this screen" message at the start of films I've rented in fullscreen format, so they probably just ripped DivX versions of rental market films. I watched the Simpsons episode ("Lisa Gets an A") and Master and Commander in full. The screen was bright and crisp, and looked great in daytime light and during action sequences.
After I was done with the movie and show, I turned the device off to poke around a bit. The back pointed out it cleared FCC regs for home and office use, but other labels said it was limited to only commerical use on Alaska. Aside from the headphone jack on the side and a taped over DC power jack, the only other opening was a side door. I cracked it open and found what appeared to be a black cartridge-type pack. I believe it was the battery pack, though I couldn't get it to budge no matter how much I wiggled on the small strap sticking out of it. There's got to be a way to easily exchange content on the device for new films and music, but I could find no evidence of docking mechanisms. Perhaps the black brick was a removable hard drive. On bootup, the screen revealed it was running the "MicroOS 3.1".
The side view, with the panel open
Impressions
Overall, I had a great time using the device and it helped my five hour flight feel a lot shorter. Steve Jobs has said in the past that watching video on tiny screens was a bad movie experience, but I have to say it wasn't that bad for me. I had never seen Master and Commander before and I'm sure I would have enjoyed the epic's cannon blasts if they were on a 80 foot screen, but I still felt the suspense and action on the small monitor. By exposing airline passengers to this device, you get to see regular folks enjoy small, portable types of entertainment. And it makes sense to use a portable instead of installing screens in every seat (same could be said about in-car DVD systems, why not make them portable instead and entertain people in any car?).
What impresses me most from this device is that it appears to be a low cost box built with commoditiy parts, and it takes advantage of content encoding that was developed in the illicit world of online media trading. Small LCD screens are cheap (you can find a 5" LCD for around $50 on ebay), mp3 and divx decoders are just a few bucks for the chips, and laptop hard drives are readily available (they can be pricey though). Combined with a simple user interface, this device takes all the complexity of movie codecs, P2P networks, and file metadata, and turns it into a system that non-technical adults can enjoy.
The back of the device
Conclusions
After playing with the digEplayer for a few hours, I'm wondering why these units aren't widely available for movie and television show fans. The most obvious reason would be that Hollywood doesn't want you to make a copy of your purchased DVD for your handheld, nor do they want you to download a TV show you taped for playback on another device. I've long held that instead of calling Kazaa users criminals for going to such great lengths to find shows, songs, and movies they enjoy, content industries could instead be calling them customers (highly motivated customers, at that). Apple proved that if you gave people a reliable, speedy, easy-to-use source of music at a reasonable price, people would rather pay the small fee than go through the effort of obtaining free songs. There is MovieLink for films, but every review I've seen of the service talks about the hard to use software that only runs on certain configurations. Currently there's no easy way to get digitized TV shows other than searching underground networks for it.
It's clear why this device is only available for rental in a commercial setting -- Hollywood hasn't yet figured out a model they're comfortable with for distributing content to customers. The only barriers are social and legal, as the technology is already here.
Background
APS, located in Tacoma, Washington, was founded in 1997 by Bill Boyer. The Company was formed to provide much needed specialty security and safety devices for commercial and private aircraft.
APS has successfully designed and marketed a variety of products for the airline industry. Recently, based on the expressed needs of airline executives, the Company designed an In-Flight Entertainment System (several patents pending) called a digEplayer, that has generated tremendous interest from major airline carriers.
In addition, APS has entered into proprietary contracts with many key technology partners including; 20th Century Fox, E-Digital, DivX, DMX and others.
The Solution
SiteCrafting was contacted by APS to deliver a Web application that would integrate digEplayer reservations with the reservation systems of their airline partners. The application needed to track players, hold customer and order information, offer secure credit card payment, generate coupon codes and printable coupons, and print passenger manifests.
With the pending launch of the digEplayer system on Alaska Airlines, SiteCrafting was placed under a very tight timeframe. Delivery date from concept to completion was 18 days.
In addition, SiteCrafting delivered a newly designed corporate web presence for APS, Inc.
Inflight Dublin has signed a strategic alliance with Seattle’s premier hand-held IFE product developer Aps. Under this agreement Inflight Dublin partner APS in the sales and demonstration function outside the US.
http://www.inflightdublin.com/digeplayer.aspx
The APS hand-held DigEplayer offers the passenger up to 20 Feature Movies, 10 hours of TV Sit-Coms and up to 100 CD Music Albums on one easy to use player.
Whether distributed onboard as a Business Class bonus or sold in Tourist Class as an instant IFE Centre, the DigEplayer5500 is the perfect solution to airlines seeking the cost-effective route to IFE.
But what if your aircraft have no IFE hardware fitted... no problem... DigEplayer requires no aircraft wiring or retrofit. Simply hand out the units, collect the cash…and presto!... Instant Multi-Channel Inflight Entertainment!
Client Airlines opting for the superb APS DigEplayer 5500 hand held unit can receive product support, content management and integration services from Inflight Dublin’s dedicate DigEplayer facility in Dublin.
Services offered under the Inflight Dublin / APS alliance include:
• Product familiarisation and on-site demonstration
• Financial Proposal and Cost/Revenues Forecasts
• Programming and Content Integration services
• On-Site Content Loading And Verification
• Technical Support and Unit Repair
• Turnkey Management of the entire DigEplayer project from initial enquiry to onboard delivery and content management and supply.
INFLIGHT DUBLIN & APS DigEplayer... delivering IFE-on-demand... now!
For further information see www.digeplayer.com
(I'm not sure if this is recent or not)
Clarification: E.Digital is contracting development of custom-built digital audio players built around its Micro OS to an India firm, but has no plans to buy that company, a company spokesman said. About 6 engineers at the unnamed firm are working with e.Digital staff. While e.Digital doesn't plan to buy the India company, it may seek to invest in or buy similar firms, the spokesman said.
27 August 2004
Warren's Consumer Electronics Daily
Volume 4; Issue 166
English
(c) Copyright 2004 Warren Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Southwest Doesn't Like IFE Options But Keeping Eyes Open
Old news but still interesting....
22 June 2004
Aviation Daily
Southwest executives reported last week that they do not see any inflight entertainment options on the market that would fit the airline's model but are still open to adding something if the right product came along.
For months, Southwest has been evaluating various IFE options available for aircraft installation, as well as other products, such as DVD rentals on the ground. "We're still evaluating all the options, but we haven't found one that we're completely convinced is the right answer for us," CEO Jim Parker told reporters last week at an inflight news conference above New York.
He expressed concerns about the cost to retrofit 400 Boeing 737s with some type of IFE system and noted the technology is always changing and improving. "The risk exists that you make a major decision to install a system on your fleet and it would become obsolete" in a relatively short time.
Southwest Operations Chief Jim Wimberly believes many of the IFE systems available today are "old technology." He's also concerned that a complex system would add measurable weight to the aircraft, which would make individual flights more costly. While the airline has a handful of transcontinental flights, he said about 80% of the airline's flights are still short-haul.
Parker said the airline did discuss some type of DVD player rental program that would require ground and air support. He questions how much demand there is for DVD-player rentals as many passengers already bring DVD players or digital audio players on Southwest flights. Even though several of Southwest's low-cost competitors are raising the bar for inflight entertainment, "I just don't hear the outcry from our passengers," Parker said. -SL
Rockwell Collins To Supply IFE Systems For Air New Zealand
12 August 2004
Aviation Daily
Air New Zealand picked Rockwell Collins to supply audio and video on-demand inflight entertainment equipment on the carrier's eight Boeing 777-200ERs.
The latest deal follows a decision by Air New Zealand to retrofit seven Boeing 747-400s with Rockwell's package -- eTES. The first eTES-equipped 777 should start service by September. The OEM said eTES is designed to allow carriers to add functionality, such as connectivity, email and Internet access, to every seat in any configuration. -LR
One Day EDIG may secure an order of this magnitude....
Insight: Cabin Suppliers & IFE Systems Briefs: Emirates, Indy Air Sign Deals With Matsushita
Steven Lott
6 August 2004
Aviation Daily
Emirates signed a deal with Matsushita Avionics Systems Corp. (MAS) for the "eX2" inflight entertainment system for its new Airbus fleet. The agreement also includes new systems for other new aircraft on order and for existing aircraft, making MAS the sole supplier of IFE systems to the Emirates fleet, which will jump to nearly 170 planes by 2012. The overall value of the order is about US$1 billion. Separately, Washington-based Independence Air signed a deal with MAS to provide the IFE system, including a satellite television service, on its new Airbus aircraft.
IFE Systems Increasingly Important in Competitive Market; Spurred in part by JetBlue's inflight TV offering, carriers of all shapes and sizes are evaluating new IFE options.
By Paul Seidenman and David J. Spanovich
1 August 2004
Overhaul & Maintenance
Sophisticated inflight entertainment (IFE) systems are finding their way into the passenger cabins of low-fare carriers, giving the operators a new competitive weapon. Systems offering multi-channel satellite TV, games, music and movies on seat-back monitors are moving the discounters away from the no-frills, basic transportation model and, in response, legacy carriers also are examining new-generation IFE systems.
``In the United States, a major reason for this is the success that JetBlue has had with in-seat satellite TV,'' said John Craig, chief engineer-cabin systems, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. ``That's why Boeing is getting inquiries from JetBlue competitors about (factory installed) systems of this kind.''
For Craig, this is history repeating itself. ``During the 1990s, in-seat IFE systems started to be installed in twin-aisle aircraft, and it wasn't long before almost every buyer of twin-aisle equipment wanted these systems. The same is now happening with single-aisle aircraft.''
For example, executives at Spirit Airlines will decide by this fall about offering some type of IFE. The airline is looking at portable plug-in devices, as well as embedded seat-back systems that would offer satellite television, movies and games, said Lynne Korman, Spirit's senior director of marketing and communications. If the carrier selects an embedded IFE product, it would be installed on Spirit's new fleet of Airbus A319 and A321s that will start to be delivered in April 2005. Spirit has 35 Airbus aircraft on firm order with another 60 options.
``We began to look at inflight entertainment in 2003 because other airlines are offering this or are about to,'' said Korman.
Delta Air Lines' decision to install the Matsushita eFX digital IFE system onboard the fleet of 36, 199-seat Boeing 757-200s operated by Song, the airline's low-fare unit, also was motivated by JetBlue, at least to some extent.
``JetBlue basically changed the game for low-fare airlines,'' said Stacy Geagan, Song's director of public relations and communications. ``We knew that a low-fare carrier with inflight entertainment was what the market now demanded, so we decided to take Song where the market wanted to go.''
Song became the launch customer for the eFX system on narrowbody aircraft. Each installation, carried out between October 2003 and March 2004 at Delta TechOps in Atlanta, took about four days per aircraft to complete and was scheduled as a stand-alone maintenance event.
The Matsushita eFX uses a seat-back combination display screen and passenger interface. Designed as a networked system, it permits passengers to play video games with those at other seats. Passengers also may select and view a movie at will and, as with a home DVD or VCR, freeze and restart the film as desired.
Along with movies, eFX offers 24 channels of live broadcast satellite television supplied by the DISH Network, along with 24 audio channels, each providing two hours of pre-recorded content. The audio channels are categorized by theme, such as rock, jazz or country western music.
Geagan said that Song is pursuing a second phase upgrade of eFX to be completed by year-end 2004. With the installation of an additional server, passengers will have a choice of 10 movies, instead of the two now available. The second server also will allow selection from what Geagan called ``hundreds of songs,'' played in the order a customer chooses. That, in fact, will replace the 24 channel audio option now in use. The upgraded system also will feature a choice of 10 video games.
For years, low-cost carriers argued that IFE adds costs that would run counter to their business plans, taking procurement and retrofit expenses into consideration. Geagan said that this argument is no longer entirely true.
``With IFE, you are really looking at a relatively small cost factor after everything else (about the operation) is considered. At the same time you are (offering) a low-cost differentiated product, which lets you charge a little more per passenger because it's available. JetBlue proved that.''
The new IFE technology being adopted by the low-fare airlines also may benefit the larger legacy carriers, making them more competitive and giving them the means to offer services that could add to their bottom line.
Bob Reding, senior vice president-technical operations for American Airlines, said the company now is studying new IFE options for its entire fleet, including those aircraft that already have IFE systems. An important focus of the study, he pointed out, is on what he termed ``value'' components.
``'Value' is the key word because it means offering what customers are willing to pay for, such as Internet access, usually provided by a third party, for an additional charge,'' said Reding.
He also stressed that nobody wants to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s and 1990s when the inflight telephone was the cutting edge technology, and every airline had to have it.
``The airlines invested millions of dollars in inflight phones that almost nobody used, because they were too expensive for most passengers,'' he said.
Nonetheless, some type of inflight Internet access, probably for an extra fee, is definitely on the horizon.
Tom Anderson, JetBlue's senior vice president, technical operations and aircraft programs, said that JetBlue is studying whether to provide Internet service as part of its IFE. ``But, the technology to deliver high quality Internet access while inflight is currently in its infancy,'' Anderson said. ``Still, JetBlue believes there will be Internet access at some point once the technology has matured.''
Boeing's John Craig reported that an Internet component within IFE is definitely a coming trend. ``The whole idea of inflight entertainment today is to bring the at-home experience to the airline cabin, including games, Internet access, audio/video presentations -- and cell phone communications.''
Industry Standards
Eric Olson, product marketing lead for Honeywell Cabin Management Systems and Services, predicted that commercial airline passengers eventually will expect two basic functions from IFE. ``They will want to be entertained as well as [be] productive. This means being able to access their e-mail and keep in touch with their offices while in flight,'' he said.
In conjunction with this, Olson said, all airlines now are requesting cost-effective IFE systems that still provide what customers demand. For that reason, he believes that Honeywell's Ovation E, initially being marketed to the business jet OEMs, is well positioned for the airline market.
Ovation E is directly descended from Ovation C, originally designed for the corporate jet market by Baker Electronics (acquired by Honeywell in December 2002) as a ``federated system.'' This means that each box, or line replaceable unit (LRU), serves a specific function, such as powering a DVD player, moving map or satellite communication. The architecture encompasses five categories of LRUs -- the source equipment box, passenger interface control equipment, displays, communication and networking -- all wired together.
When Ovation E was introduced at the 2003 National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention, ``the next step in IFE technology was rolled out,'' Olson said.
``Now, instead of using a large number of individual boxes or LRUs linked together by wires, we have a series of modules weighing little more than a pound each that are designed to slide in and out of a metal cabinet, designed for front or top loading,'' he said. ``There is a weight and power savings, as well as a substantial reduction in wiring.'' The system's architecture is based on a gigabyte Ethernet backbone, incorporating technology that delivers information faster and more efficiently to the passengers.
Honeywell plans to announce additional features for Ovation E at this-year's NBAA meeting in Las Vegas, and by year-end, a business jet OEM as the launch customer. But, as Olson stressed, even as Honeywell was developing the system, it was envisioned that it would be applicable to the commercial airlines, thanks to its flexible architecture.
``A U.S.-based international carrier using Ovation E equipment might decide to offer its domestic passengers DirecTV, or another multi-channel television system, that is only available in the U.S. but not in Europe, the Far East or Asia,'' he said. ``This can be done in about 10 minutes simply by inserting the correct satellite TV module into the system's cabinet. If the same aircraft were to be redeployed to Europe, the DirecTV compatible module could then be removed and a module for some other satellite TV service could be inserted -- with no changes to wiring or LRUs.''
Honeywell, Olson said, expects to start getting serious inquiries from the airlines about Ovation E in 2005.
For Rockwell Collins' Airshow Systems Division, the leap from IFE for business jets to commercial airliners already is a reality with its Tailwind 560 satellite TV system. In December, Qatar International Airways became the launch customer for the system, with an order for 70, of which 35 are firm. Airbus will install the systems at the factory on the 34 narrowbody and widebody jets, which Qatar ordered from the OEM in June 2003, for delivery between 2004 and 2010. The first system will enter Qatar Airways service during the first quarter of 2005.
Chris Merry, senior director of space-based delivery systems for the Airshow Systems Division, said that Tailwind 560 receives feed from airborne satellites carrying Ku-band signals. The product is designed to operate with any major vendor's IFE product, he said.
Tailwind 560 is the latest variant of an IFE product originally developed by Airshow in 1997 for corporate jets. After acquiring Airshow in June 2002, Rockwell Collins improved the original product, then known as Tailwind 100. ``We positioned Tailwind 100 for the business jet operator who wanted to access U.S. television signals aboard their aircraft. Because of technology enhancements, we knew we could look at other markets,'' he said.
To do that, Rockwell Collins teamed with antenna manufacturer AeroSat to develop a system with worldwide satellite TV capability. Dubbed Tailwind 500, it, like its predecessor, used a tail-mounted antenna. This led to the Tailwind 550, which mounted the antenna on the fuselage. With that evolution, the product was promoted to the head-of-state aircraft market, which typically uses airliner-size equipment. The Tailwind 560, a more robust version of the 550, was developed for the more demanding nature of air carrier operations.
The satellite TV system, which Qatar will integrate with a Matsushita IFE suite, will be capable of delivering up to 32 independent channels per passenger via seat-back display. Rockwell Collins, Merry said, will customize a program package licensed from outside content providers. ``We are supplying the only airline television system capable of working in multiple regions, wherever the Ku broadcasting band is available,'' he said.
The Qatar order has sparked interest from a mix of domestic and international airlines, according to Merry. The airline market, he explained, has been divided by Rockwell into two segments: long-haul widebody routes and now the intraregional narrowbody operation.
``The short segment, intraregional services tend to use conventional, distributed video systems, which are controlled by the cabin crew. We have designed Tailwind 560 to work with that format, as well as the at-seat systems under passenger control, more typical of widebody aircraft. However, we are hearing from the OEMs that the seat-back installation will become the dominant form of IFE out of the factory on both single and twin-aisle aircraft,'' said Merry.
Tailwind 560 is being installed by Airbus under its own type certificates, but Rockwell Collins plans to pursue the retrofit market via an STC'd kit that includes the antenna, radome, radome attachment, power supply, controller; and from one to four receiver decoder units of eight channels each.
``With all of the engineering drawings in place, it should take about five days to install and could be done at the time of a major airframe check,'' said Merry. ``The system is compatible with the existing power supply on the airplane, uses standard 18-20 gauge wiring and adds between 60 and 80 lbs. to
the airframe.''
Merry said that for the next three years, retrofits will account for most
of the system's sales, but that should shift to factory, or line-fit installations thereafter.
In the realm of full IFE systems, airlines are demanding greater savings in weight, power and maintenance. That was the design philosophy for the Thales Avionics TopSeries family of at-seat audio and video on-demand IFE systems, according to Brad Foreman, the company's vice president and general manager.
The two newest members of the product line, the i-4000 and i-5000, were launched this year, with a first sale of the i-4000 to Royal Brunei Airways. The systems are being retrofitted on four of the airline's Boeing 767-300s. The first i-4000, in fact, entered revenue service in March, following installation that took place over a seven-day period during a scheduled C check. At this year's Asian Aerospace in Singapore, Thales announced that Boeing selected the i-4000 as its first-ever, factory-installed, at-seat IFE for narrowbody aircraft.
The i-5000, an enhanced bandwidth version of the i-4000, has been selected by Airbus for the new A380. Airbus will install the first i-5000 later this year on the flight test aircraft.
As Foreman explained, the i-4000 and i-5000 are fully modular and customized to the aircraft and class of service. Along with on-demand video and audio, the system has the embedded capability for satellite TV and Internet connectivity.
``The i-4000 was the first IFE system qualified under the same part number for both Boeing and Airbus products, making them interchangeable among those manufacturers aircraft types,'' said Foreman. ``By doing this, we have reduced maintenance costs.''
He added that the i-4000 and i-5000 are designed for on-condition maintenance and, through the use of Thales-supplied software, a mechanic can troubleshoot the system using a hand-held wireless device. The system also affords a savings of 60% in power and 40% in weight over comparable systems.
Although reliability and maintainability are important airline requirements, there also is demand for IFE systems to be as automated as possible, according to Al McGowan, director of sales and marketing for inflight entertainment at TEAC Aerospace Technologies.
``The airlines want to get away from conventional or scripted systems which require considerable intervention by the cabin crews throughout the flight,'' said McGowan. ``For instance, they might begin with a safety briefing, followed by a playback of news and information, and then an inflight movie. Those presentations have to be activated at specific times throughout the flight, and each one involves a four to five step process.''
TEAC has introduced several systems that McGowan said afford greater automation and reliability. One product, the VE-801, is an upgrade to traditional overhead or seat-back systems, without the requirement for costly modifications. Introduced in 2003, the VE-801 simply replaces the tape-based video player already on the aircraft with a single channel digital file server. At the same time, TEAC made available a three-channel version, known as the VE-803. For either system, each of which can replace as many as three tape-based systems, installation time is about 10 minutes.
``These systems offer more automation and greater reliability, along with a reduction in the overall component weight,'' he said. ``The weight savings, in fact, is about 50%, while reliability is enhanced by five or six times that of the existing systems. The older tape-based systems normally weigh 25 lbs., while the new VE systems weight about 10 lbs.,'' McGowan said.
He added that tape-based systems have a meantime between failure rate of less than 2,000 hours, while the new TEAC systems have a meantime between failure rate of more than 10,000 hours.
The new systems are designed to work with a variety of different video formats including DVDs, solid state memory and reusable hard disc drives.
The upgrade costs per aircraft for the new digital systems run about $10,000 to $15,000, but as McGowan stressed, the return on investment comes in as little as three years, because of the lower maintenance costs and higher reliability. The new components are being installed under STCs developed by TEAC.
Qatar Airways Inflight Entertainment voted 8th in the world
22 August 2004
Middle East Company News
Independent aviation quality monitor Skytrax has placed Qatar Airways Inflight Entertainment as 8th best in the world, making it one of only 10 airlines in the world to be recognized in this category.
Qatar Airways' Inflight Entertainment has now joined a distinguished group of Airlines that carry the title of Best In flight Entertainment, including Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific, and British Airways.
“We are absolutely delighted to have been recognized in this category. It reinforces Qatar Airways' commitment towards excellence in providing the best services possible on-board our flights,” said Mr Al Baker.
“The 8th place ranking is a strong motivation to build-on to the calibre of our services even further so that we are continually providing our passengers with a wide selection of entertainment choices.
“It recognises that Qatar Airways is at the forefront of product innovation.
“The IFE award is based on the quality of IFE hardware and software which includes screen size, clarity, selection of channels, and the selection of movies available.
“We are proud to offer our passengers the audio video on demand feature, which was a key factor in determining the results of passengers satisfaction levels.
“Qatar Airways currently offers the latest Inflight Entertainment system on board the Airbus A330. Passengers can view a selection of 32 movies and 16 short programs on their personal 10.4 inch video monitor, listen to one of 16 radio channels, or select from over 40 CD's to listen to.
“In addition to securing an 8th place position for Inflight Entertainment, Skytrax has also recently voted Qatar Airways' cabin staff as first in the Middle East region and fifth in the world. This is following the honour of being awarded the five star ranking earlier this year.
“These results certainly prove that we are on the way to becoming the best airline in the world,” said Mr Al Baker.
The 2003-2004 Best Airline Inflight Entertainment Survey received a total of 641,448 nominations during the 8 month survey period.
Qatar Airways is the national carrier of Qatar and one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. Operating from its hub in Doha, Qatar Airways presently flies to 53 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Far East. By the end of 2005 it expects to fly to 70 destinations on five continents.
2 million in purchase orders and possible purchase
18 August 2004
Warren's Consumer Electronics Daily
Volume 4; Issue 159
E.Digital, moving to expand its Micro OS software platform for digital audio players, signed an agreement with a company in India to handle custom-built products, Investor Relations Vp Robert Putnam told us. The firm, whom Putnam declined to identify, includes 5-6 engineers who will work with e.Digital staff in Poway, Cal. E.Digital's 20-25 U.S.- based engineers will focus on technology integration and development, Putnam said. E.Digital will likely increase its stake in or purchase the India firm by year-end, Putnam said. Meanwhile, e.Digital's first-quarter loss grew to $782,153 from $642,612 a year ago as revenue plunged to $93,000 from $1.1 million. The sharp decline in revenue was tied to a one-month delay to July in purchase orders from airlines for the digEplayer. As of June 30, e.Digital had received $2 million in purchase orders, of which $1 million was recorded as customer deposits, company officials said. Potential Micro OS customers also postponed buying decisions in June as they studied Seagate's decision to enter the hard drive market for digital audio players, Putnam said. E.Digital is working with hard drive developer Cornice. Distributor APS, which is marketing the digEplayer, has sold more than 1,600 units to Alaska Airlines and has new orders from JetsGo and Hawaiian Airlines. Sales to APS accounted for most of e.Digital's revenue during the quarter, Putnam said. E.Digital, which ended the quarter with a $1.2 million deficit in working capital, closed on a $1 million offering of unsecured 12% convertible promissory notes on July 2. The notes include warrants for 2 million shares that can be exercised at 25 cents. -- MS
In-flight connectivity set to soar.
BY PETER BUECKING, SITA PRESIDENT
20 July 2004
Financial Times (FT.Com)
Entertaining passengers as they fly at 10,000 metres is increasingly driven by IT. Passenger demand for a better in-flight experience compels airlines to differentiate their cabin service. To gain a competitive edge many carriers are starting to add the latest connectivity technologies and the race is just starting to take shape.
Almost a third of the world's leading airlines intend to offer a range of cabin connectivity services by 2007, according to the latest results from the Airline IT Trends Survey 2004*, undertaken by Sita, the industry-owned aviation communication services organisation, and Airline Business magazine.
By the end of this year around 15 per cent of airlines will offer SMS (text messaging) onboard their aircraft, using - for now - SMS-enabled inflight entertainment systems rather than passengers' own mobile phones, with another 17 per cent planning to install the service by the end of 2006.
Onboard e-mail is also growing in popularity, with 13 per cent of airlines offering this by year-end and another 17 per cent planning to offer it by the end of 2006. Again this is not possible yet over passengers' own mobile devices, but on certain aircraft passengers' personal notebooks can be used to send and receive e-mails.
In-flight live TV was introduced in 2000, the first fax service offered only in the early 1990s, and in-seat video screens originally introduced in the late 1980s. But it was back in 1961 that the first commercial in-flight entertainment (IFE) system took flight with TWA showing MGM's By Love Possessed. Other carriers took note, and IFE grew to include communication with the introduction of seat-based telephones in the early 1980s.
However, seat phone technologies did not meet consumer needs and the consequence of introducing 'technology for technology sake' and the resultant low usage rates meant that, unfortunately, they became something of a 'flying white elephant'. But recent research has shown there is passenger demand to use mobile phones in-flight - which will soon be possible - and the survey results indicate more than a fifth of airlines want to introduce this service by 2007.
With investment under extremely tight control, and keen to avoid past mistakes, airlines obviously want to ensure passenger usage will sustain and recoup commercial introduction of any connectivity services. The flexibility to provide news, weather, stock quotes and games depends on cost-effective air-ground communication links that will increasingly need to provide broadband access speeds.
Business travellers are often the most frequent flyers and valued customers, and now want to e-mail and have web access as well as instant messaging so they can function as if they were in the office. Leisure travellers also increasingly want to stay connected, while demand from the younger generation for SMS continues to intensify - usage rates of more than 100 messages per flight are being reported.
While primarily aimed at enhancing passenger services, these technologies also offer considerable operational and safety benefits. The opportunity to make real-time updates enhances passenger service, for example to alter a connection due to inclement weather or book a hotel room. Cockpit and cabin staff also benefit as the latest graphical weather displays can help avoid disruptions and provision of real-time engine performance data can help in faster turnarounds.
But more than half of airlines don't yet know when they will introduce these connectivity services on-board. This picture of a few leaders, with a larger trailing group of laggards is a common sight, visible for the introduction of online sales and e-ticketing.
As technologies mature, the numbers introducing systems quickly grow. Adoption rates increase and a 'tipping point' approaches when more than half of airlines have the service and it becomes mainstream. With passenger demand for cabin connectivity speeding adoption rates, the 'tipping point' should be reached in the next four or five years. Connectivity at 10,000m will then have arrived for most travellers.
From an Alaska PR.
and just for you I intentionally stripped out the date.
"The units will be available at no extra charge to all First Class passengers, and at least 32 units will be available in the main cabin for a $10 rental charge"
The 30 per flight average is in sync with what they were offering for rental. This concludes they are selling out on all their flights. So if they want to increase revenue, they can increase the #units.
Let's annualize the revenue stream currently.
$1.5 million over the past 4 months, since their beta wasn't concluded until Feb. Annualized that's $4.5 million, more than enough to cover maintenance fees.
http://www.digeplayer.com/newsletter103.pdf
APS Newsletter # 103: DigEplayer Doubles Capacity!
The world’s first portable in-flight entertainment system digEplayer Increases capacity to 50
movies and perfects video quality!
July 6 Tacoma, Washington:
DigEplayer the first and only portable in-flight entertainment system on the market today, has
increased capacity so that now passengers can enjoy a vast selection of up to 50 feature length
movies embedded on the system at any one time. In addition to the full length movies, 30 minute
and 60 minute television shows, hours of music plus advertising and promotional content will all still
be available on the digEplayer as well.
Additionally, APS has made some improvements to the actual presentation of the content. Ray
Henson, CTO of APS says, “We have increased replay speed to 32 frames per second which
will take the video and audio quality to an entirely new level.”
According to Jason Pang, Director of Account Management, DivXNetworks, “DigEplayer video
quality was already deemed the best on the market at the recent CES show in Las Vegas,
and now with these new optimizations it is even better.”
The digEplayer, introduced in September of 2003 at the World Airline Entertainment Association
(WAEA) Conference was launched on Alaska Airlines and currently has had over 150,000 uses so
far on nearly 5,000 flights. The digEplayers use industry-leading DivX video compression
technology. At this upcoming September, WAEA show APS will feature different applications from
up to 10 of its airline customers from around the world, as well as several other new products and
technological improvements.
DigEplayer is covered by eight patents, can be operated on a 10 hour battery or seat power, can
hold over 50 full length feature movies plus sitcoms and 10+ hours of dynamic music content
available on demand for airline passengers.
APS website click here please>>>>>> www.digeplayer.com
To receive additional Information about APS, Digeplayers, OnBoard Pay or other APS products or
services please click here >>>>> web@digeplayer.com
Contact APS:
1142 Broadway Plaza, Suite 400, Tacoma, Washington 98402
Ph: 253-284-4445 Fax: 253-284-4450
Fusion Digital Technology Intros Digifusion pPVR Portable Video Player/Recorder
by David Chait [Theater, Mobile]
Another cool-looking portable media player, and recorder, is on the way from the UK. Will it match up to the Windows PMC devices?
Fusion announce launch of worlds-first Portable Personal Video Recorder – pPVR
Fusion Digital Technology Ltd announce the launch of a world-first Portable Personal Video Recorder (pPVR) allowing users to access both audio and video content whilst on the move, and the ability to store such content on its internal Hard Disk Drive without the need to interface with a PC.
The Digifusion pPVR can access content in one of three ways. 1) Conventionally via its USB port, images, audio files, movies etc can be transferred from a PC. 2) By direct connection to an audio or composite / S-VHS video source using the units inbuilt MPEG encoder. 3) By direct digital connection to a dedicated Digifusion set top box or Digital Video recorder.
Featuring both MPEG 2 and MPEG4 playback, plus MP3 and WM9 audio support, the pPVR’s integral 20 GB hard drive enables storage of up to 40 hours of video programming. With a built-in, back-lit LCD display, the Digifusion pPVR is a transportable media centre which can be used whilst travelling or at home through a home entertainment system, It allows users to watch their favourite TV programmes or listen to their favourite music wherever they are.
Unlike any similar portable products currently available which are PC-centric, the Digifusion PPVR is able to interface with content without the need for a PC.
Downloading content from the internet and other sources is now an established method of acquiring audio and video files. The already buoyant market for personal jukeboxes is set to rise dramatically in the next few years and is likely to be fuelled even further with the introduction of personal entertainment centres such as the highly versatile Digifusion pPVR.
Barry Rubery, CEO of Fusion Digital Technology Ltd commented, “There are two major markets for this product. Firstly the retail market where consumers can use the product to store audio and video content and record in much the same way as they would with a static VCR. Secondly, it provides supplementary product opportunities for Pay TV operators, who as we know, are continually searching for new revenue streams and ways to reduce ‘churn’.”
For a demonstration of the pPVR as well as a host of other exciting consumer electronics solutions, please visit Fusion Digital Technology on Stand D12 at Mediacast ExCel, London, 25-27 May 2004. Steve Lister, Vice President of Marketing will be available on the stand for press questions every morning between 10-11AM.
For further information, or product images, please contact:
Diane Mckaye on Tel: + 44 (0) 7771 926726
e-mail: d.mckaye@fusiondigitec.com
Notes
Digifusion PPVR Key Features
– Offers ‘Personal video and audio on the Move’
– The unit has an integrated back-lit LCD screen
– Supports MPEG2 and MPEG4 playback
– The unit will accept MPEG2 streams from appropriate Digifusion set-top boxes to store on it’s HDD
– 20Gb Hard Disk Drive (up to 40 hours of video programming)
– The pPVR can download music and video from an analogue source or from the Internet via a PC and is portable to play in the car, or at home through a home entertainment system.
– Incorporates Timer for recordings
Market Statistics
Music Downloads
– European digital rights operator OD2 sold 1 million tracks in Q1 2004, a tenfold increase than the same period last year. (Source: Guardian 7 April 2004)
– 19.2 million tracks were downloaded in the US from June – December 2003. (Source: Guardian 7 April 2004)
– European market for music downloads was ¤24 million in 2003, estimated to rise to over ¤1 billion by 2007 (Source Forrester)
– Apple iTunes customers are currently downloading tracks at a rate of 2.5 million a week (Source: The Register 15 March 2004)
Portable Audio/Video Player Market
– This year, 2.2 million personal jukeboxes will be purchased in Britain 9Source: Understand & Solutions March 2004)
– Music industry analysts predict 12.5 million Britons will own products similar to the Apple iPOD in the next 4 years (Source: Independent 21 March 2004)
About Fusion
Fusion Digital Technology Ltd design, manufacture and supply innovative digital consumer electronics products for the international marketplace. The range includes both free to air and pay TV digital receivers for satellite, cable and terrestrial platforms alongside integrated LCD and plasma televisions. Fusion is a joint venture between industry pioneer Barry Rubery, founder and former Chief Executive of Pace Micro Technology plc, together with one of Europe’s largest consumer electronics manufacturers Beko Elektronik A.S. With its headquarters in Harrogate, North England, Fusion manufactures its products from its affiliated plants in Turkey.
For more information, or to obtain product images, please visit www.fusiondigitec.com
Nice PIC of Digifusion pPVR...
http://www.fusiondigitec.com/files/press_stuff/pPVR.htm
Alaska Airlines doing a nice digeplayer promotion showing content and updated routes.
http://www.alaskaair.com/www2/promo/digEplayer2.asp
In-flight entertainment shows improvement
Chris Kridler
6 July 2004
Florida Today
F Final All
In-flight entertainment shows improvement
Chris Kridler
Tech Today
Florida Today
When the airplane offers "Starsky and Hutch" as a pay-per-view choice, you know the world has changed, and not necessarily for the better.
I miss getting a free movie on a cross-country flight, even if it is something as dubious as "Starsky and Hutch."
Maybe some airlines still do it, but my recent Delta Song flight wanted to charge me five bucks for the privilege. The pay-per-view movie is the perfect complement to the pay-per-eat meals.
One nice improvement on such flights is the live satellite TV channels on the little screen in the back of the seat in front of me. There aren't a ton of channels, but it's kind of fun to watch "Trading Spaces" or a documentary on Animal Planet. The shows help pass the time.
The shows aren't edited to show airplanes as always safe and wonderful, the way in-flight movies used to be. I remember watching a James Bond movie once on an airplane that cut from our heroes in peril in midair to their sudden recovery on the ground. That was more jarring than seeing a fictional plane crash.
At least it's hard to edit live news on CNN. And, as I said, the world has changed. I think we'd rather see the whole story.
I have another guilty pleasure. It's watching other people's DVDs.
More and more, laptops can play DVDs, and some people carry miniature DVD players. I couldn't help sneaking an amused look or two at a neighbor's "Finding Nemo" on a recent flight. The problem, of course, was that I couldn't hear it. So this time, I packed a couple of my own.
Some airlines offer content you can customize. Alaska Airlines rents the digEplayer for $10, packed with shows, travel info and lots of movies to choose from.
Hey, I'd just be happy to fly to Alaska.
For now, the easiest entertainment you can get is still a book. And it doesn't need batteries.
British start-up DigiFusion is branching out....
Online: Whats New: Hardware: Branching out
Contributions from Neil McIntosh, Ashley Norris and SA Mathieson
10 June 2004
The Guardian
British start-up DigiFusion is branching out into personal music players. Due in September is the pounds 199.99 Portable Audio player - one of the first 20GB hard disk models to retail for under pounds 200. Slightly larger, and significantly heavier, than the Apple iPod, the player is compatible with MP3 and Windows Media Audio files, connects to a PC via USB 2.0 and is capa ble of around 10 hours playback from its integrated rechargeable battery. It can also be used as a voice recorder.
Jetsgo set to take off on expansion; Plans involve 'significant' steps Stronger Pearson presence predicted
30 March 2004
The Toronto Star
MONTREAL -- Flush with a $25 million financing from a U.S. investor, fast-growing Jetsgo is scheduled to announce more expansion plans for the airline's network today.
The Montreal-based discount airline has not yet released details, but said they involve "its most significant competitive initiative since its launch in June, 2002."
President and founder Michel Leblanc said yesterday the initiative is related to the previously announced purchase of 18 new aircraft, deliveries of which start this month, and to a cash infusion by an unnamed investor announced last week.
"It's basically about two major product improvements," Leblanc said in an interview, declining to provide more details.
Jetsgo has defied skeptical pundits with a steady rate of growth, and is currently taking delivery of the first of 18 Fokker F-100s the company has ordered, which will more than double the Jetsgo fleet to 32. Jetsgo already has 14 MD-83s with 160 seats each, while the F-100s seat 100 passengers.
Analyst Jacques Kavafian said the announcement, at a news conference in Toronto that will include former Senator Frank Mahovlich, a former National Hockey League star, will probably be about an expansion of Jetsgo's presence at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. That would come on the heels of Calgary-based WestJet Airlines Airlines Ltd. moving its eastern hub there from Hamilton.
Jetsgo is not closely followed by analysts because it is a private company that does not issue financial statements.
"We don't have much information to go with," said Kavafian, with Octagon Capital. "He's been in business for two years now, and he keeps growing, so it's obviously viable."
He said Jetsgo is gaining share from Air Canada, which has been struggling under bankruptcy protection and has been unable to fight back successfully.
Jetsgo purchases 18 planes from American Airlines - Fokker 100s' 105 seats provide additional flexibility
MONTREAL, Feb. 5 /CNW/ - Jetsgo will more than double the size of its fleet with the purchase of 18 Fokker 100s from American Airlines.
"We will take delivery of the first seven planes immediately, with plansto have three in service by June 24," said Jetsgo president, Michel Leblanc."The balance are to be introduced every five weeks in Jetsgo's schedule. The Fokker 100s have a capacity of 105 seats and provide us with tremendous
additional flexibility in meeting the discount travel needs of Canadians."
The 18 Fokkers will join Jetsgo's 14 MD-83s with their 160-seat capacity, bringing the total fleet to 32 planes. The Fokkers operate with a five-person crew and will provide 650 additional jobs at Jetsgo once they are all in service. This will double Jetsgo's employee count to 1,300. "Even though we are introducing a second aircraft-type into our fleet, we
will maintain the same low seat mile cost, which is the best in the Canadian industry. In addition, we get the benefit of having over half our planes in the 100-seat range. This is important for Jetsgo's future plans," said Leblanc. "The purchase of these first seven planes is being paid from Jetsgo cash reserves."
The Fokker 100 is a full-size jet offering the economies of a regional jet. It has a 2,250 km-range, allowing it to fly existing Jetsgo routes such as Montreal-Orlando, Toronto-Sydney and Toronto-Fort Lauderdale. New routes
and destinations will be announced closer to the Fokkers' first anticipated flights in June.
The newly acquired Fokker 100s are certified for flight in Canada andoperate with two Rolls Royce TAY MK650-15 engines, have a typical cruising speed of 797 km/h and a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. The planes being acquired by Jetsgo were built between 1991 and 1993, complying with the
highest noise standards and providing a quiet cabin.
Little drives mean big business (Cornice)
Michael Kanellos
10 May 2004
Silicon.com
Music lovers boost adoption of minidrives
By the end of the year, tiny hard drives are going to start to become downright common. Sony and Philips plan to release minidrive-based music players toward the middle of the year in the United States to capitalise on the growing interest in small electronics devices, said Kevin Magenis, CEO of Cornice, which makes the hard-drive element in the players. Toward the end of the year, other manufacturers are expected to come out with video cameras containing minidrives, while at least one manufacturer is planning to release a device that can function as a portable personal video recorder (PVR) and a handheld. "They [manufacturers] are all getting ready for the second half of the year," Magenis said. "I don't know what is going to take off, but I know they [consumers] need to have their stuff with them." The tiny hard drives from Cornice and others hold far less than standard hard drives, with capacity ranging from just 1.5GB to 4GB. But they are also far smaller, measuring an inch across. (Toshiba is coming out with its own type of minidrive next year that measures less than an inch in diameter.) IBM invented the minidrive in the mid-1990s, but sales never took off. Music players with the small drives emerged in late summer 2003 with models from RCA and Rio. Apple then brought far more attention to the category with the iPod and the subsequent iPod Mini. "The iPod helped legitimise the market," Magenis said. The models that Sony and Philips plan to release in the United States are already on sale in, respectively, Japan and Europe. The Sony device, which is marketed under its Aiwa brand, is about the same size as a business card holder, comes with 1.5GB of storage and can be expanded to 2GB. Sony's device currently sells for $229, while the Philips player goes for $199. It is not certain what the devices will sell for in the United States and Europe. The iPod Mini sells for $249 and comes with 4GB of storage. The capacity and reliability of the new breed of minidrives is expected to increase over time. Currently, Cornice's drive tops out at 2GB and can survive a drop (inside a device) of about a metre. A 3GB version that can be dropped 1.5 metres will come out toward the beginning of 2005. Magenis would not identify other manufacturers working on the devices, but said that one is a maker of portable PVRs that is a household name and that the company has worked with Samsung on hard-drive-based video cameras. Other products due out later this year include minidrive-based USB storage devices for PCs.
Airlines Testing Waters On Rented Handheld Entertainment Devices
26 April 2004
Airline Business Report
Vol. 22; Issue 12
Phillips Business Information, Inc.
Ted, the new now-fare carrier owned by United Airlines [UALAQ], and Hawaiian Airlines [HA] are renting handheld entertainment devices to gauge whether passengers are willing to pay extra for digital music, sitcoms and other forms of entertainment.
Not only would the handheld systems bring in additional revenue, they might keep passengers from defecting to discount airlines that offer live television at every seat, namely Frontier Airlines [FRNT] and JetBlue Airways [JBLU]. Alaska Airlines [ALK] is the only carrier offering the hand-held units on some routes on a regular basis.
Jason Schechter, a spokesman for Ted, said the results of the test rental program are encouraging. "We are looking for new ways to attract passengers," he said. "We want to be competitive from a pricing standpoint and the onboard experience."
Ted charged $10 for the devices about a month ago between Denver and Fort Lauderdale, and it continues to test on that route. The airline said at the time that it was considering another test at a lower price to see if more passengers are interested. But Schechter said Ted is not going reveal further information on test prices. "If it is rolled out to a broader market we will settle on one price point," he said. He indicated it is likely that the handheld units will be offered in other markets in the future.
Known as digEplayers, the handheld systems offer language courses, cartoons and travel information. Schechter indicated the content may be expanded. "We will look at a few different options, including price point and content," he said. "We do like what we see so far."
The devices use portable, video-on-demand technology to deliver a spectrum of in-flight entertainment choices, including first-run movies. The digEplayer is about the size of a DVD player. Because the content cannot be duplicated or replayed once its proprietary battery runs out, it is possible to offer first-run movies not yet available on video in addition to a standard fare of classic films, television shows, children's programming, music and video games.
In March, Hawaiian Airlines offered the digEplayer on flights between Seattle and Honolulu. It charged an extra $10 per flight, and the airline says it took less than 15 minutes to rent all 68 players available.
Jason Schechter, United Airlines (847) 700-2278; Dan Bean, Hawaiian Airlines, (425) 793-6313.
Big disk makers spin up tiny drives
Rick Merritt
19 April 2004
Electronic Engineering Times
San Jose, Calif. - Hard-disk makers Seagate, Maxtor and Toshiba are expected to enter the market for 1-inch or smaller drives as MP3 players kick this once-sleepy sector into a higher gear. For many companies, the ultimate goal is finding the right form factor and interface to embed the drives into high-volume cellular phones, a job some say could take years.
Preparations by the established drive makers come as startup Cornice Inc. (Longmont, Colo.) plans its second generation of embedded 1-inch drives-its first product line with separate models optimized for capacity, price and size. The drives will appear in several high-end cell phones starting early next year, said Scott Holt, the startup's executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Cornice has carved out a low-cost niche by linking host CPU and memory to a simplified 8-bit, 20-pin interface instead of using an on-board drive controller. Its next-generation drives will go another step in that direction by handing off read-channel processing to the host and squeezing the drive interface down to nine or 10 pins and a narrower signaling range.
The drives will shave peak power consumption from 250 to 230 milliamps and nonoperating power consumption from 80 microamps to less than 10. Curt Bruner, chief technology officer of Cornice, said the latter figure is key because the drives, used primarily for archival storage, spend most of their time in a standby state.
At the top hard-disk maker, Seagate Technology Inc., president William Watkins has said the Scotts Valley, Calif., company later this year will announce drives smaller than the 2.5-inch models it rolled out for notebooks last June. A Seagate spokesman called digital cameras and MP3 players-not cell phones-the initial targets. But the company refused to give product details and declined requests for interviews.
Toshiba, by contrast, is vocal about its plans to pioneer an embedded drive in a new 0.85-inch form factor, which will sample late this summer at 2- and 4-Gbyte capacities. Its primary targets are cell phones and PDAs. The drives will cut a third off the volumetric size of current 1-inch drives and consume about 0.5 watt.
Toshiba sees a variety of drivers for the small disks, including the embrace by cell phones and PDAs of broadcast TV, global positioning satellite services, pictures, and downloaded MP3 files and applications software. "There are many things that will be drivers and cell phones themselves will change," said Amy Dalphy, a hard-disk business manager at Toshiba America Information Systems (Irvine, Calif.).
No other drive makers are supporting the 0.85-inch format, which many criticize as being too close in capacity and cost to flash cards. Dalphy said customers won't require a second source in the first stage of the market, but she declined to reveal prices for the drives.
According to Semico Research, flash is now under a dollar per megabyte, but hard-disk storage in desktop drives is dipping below a penny per megabyte. Cornice sells its 2-Gbyte drive for less than $70. By contrast, a 128-Mbyte flash card might retail for about $40.
Maxtor Corp. (Milpitas, Calif.) said it expects to participate in markets beyond the 3.5-inch drives it makes today but would not commit to any specific products or timetables. One chip maker familiar with the company said Maxtor is about six to 12 months behind Seagate, which has "really done its homework" on the small drives.
Nevertheless, Maxtor has closely studied the emerging markets for mobile consumer storage. The 0.85-inch drives will focus on cell phones, while the larger-capacity 1-inch drives are seen initially as aftermarket removables for digital still cameras and built-in drives for middle-market MP3 players, said David Barron, director of digital entertainment products at Maxtor. "I think we will see more and more embedded hard-disk storage, but it will take a while," Barron said.
IBM Corp. pioneered the 1-inch market in 1999 with its removable 340-Mbyte Microdrive, using the CompactFlash Type II interface and aiming at digital cameras, said John Osterhout, a Kodak executive who joined IBM to launch the product.
But digital cameras have mainly employed flash memory cards. Thus, the Microdrive ticked along with modest sales until Apple Computer Inc. designed the latest 2- and 4-Gbyte models into its iPod Mini MP3 player and other MP3 makers such as Creative Labs followed suit, using an embedded version of the drive with a modified interface.
"We found our first high-volume application, and I am sure it won't be our last," said Osterhout, now a director of business development at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, which formed last year from the merger of Hitachi's and IBM's storage businesses. Sales of the Microdrive in 2004 could be as much as five times higher than last year, he said.
Now IBM is beginning to show variations of the embedded Microdrive to cell phone makers seeking even bigger markets. "There's not a commitment from cell phone makers to use hard drives yet," he said. "It's an area of intense study, and I don't know when we will get a clear picture, but we do think there will evolve a sizable market for hard drives in cell phones."
Apple announced it shipped 807,000 iPods in its latest quarter, a tenfold increase from a year ago. Most of the players use a Toshiba 1.8-inch hard disk. Apple has not been able to meet demand for newer models using the 1-inch Microdrive.
Another player in 1-inch drives, start-up GS Magicstor Inc. (Guiyang, China), is shipping 2- and 4-Gbyte drives using the CompactFlash II, ATA and USB interfaces.
"If Seagate, Toshiba and Maxtor jump in, that will make six companies in this market and that would be quite a crowd," said James Porter, principal of market watcher Disk/Trend (Mountain View, Calif.).
"People are trying to get into these consumer spaces because their investors are requiring it," said one semiconductor manager who works with the drive makers but asked not to be named. For a short time, companies will compete with unique form factors and interfaces until a standard shakes out, he predicted.
Indeed, hard-disk makers agree the next shift for small drives will be finding a new embedded interface and form factor suitable for cell phones and other emerging applications. Just what that will be is far from clear.
The CompactFlash II interface for removable drives is quickly on the wane due to its relatively large size and cost, while a handful of other removable flash card interfaces, including Secure Digital, Multimedia Card and Sony's MagicStick, gain traction. But none of the new flash interfaces are suitable for hard disks, said Bruner of Cornice.
Toshiba will announce in May that it will use an extension of an existing standard interface for its embedded 0.85-inch drive. "We are analyzing a number of different interfaces," said Dalphy. "This is very industry-driven and we are trying to work with industry committees."
Hitachi is "still in discussions with major customers about interfaces and there is no consensus yet," said Osterhout. "A year or two from now I think we'll still have CompactFlash and at least one embedded interface, but there are competing interests at this time."
"I don't think the cell phone industry has figured out what they want yet," said Barron of Maxtor. "Nokia is the only company that has put a lot of thought into this," but even it is divided, he said, with one group wanting a removable and another an embedded drive.
Meanwhile, cellular phones are expected to become the largest consumer of flash memory cards, thanks to the high unit volume of handsets. Market watcher iSuppli Corp. (El Segundo, Calif.) estimates cell phones will be using 55 percent of all flash cards by 2008, up from about 10 percent in 2003. Over the same period, smaller-volume digital cameras will dip from using 60 percent of all flash cards to less than 10 percent, iSuppli projects.
Three Benefits Toyota Sees in iVDR Removable HDD Technology
19 April 2004
Nikkei Electronics
Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.
April 19, 2004 (TOKYO) -- On April 12, 2004, the "iVDR Consortium," a group that is establishing technologies for removable hard disk drives (HDDs), held its general meeting in Tokyo, where it decided to employ "iVDR micro," which uses a 1-inch HDD and "iVDR-Secure" copy guard technology for TV contents.
However, the consortium explained that the hardware specifications of iVDR micro are tentative, and the contents of iVDR-Secure could change after talks with content providers.
The size of iVDR micro is 50mm x 50mm x 8mm. The iVDR-Secure structure will take a similar structure as a small memory card, "Secure MultiMediaCard."
The iVDR Consortium revealed at the same time that the number of its member companies reached 39 as of April 5, 2004. They are not only AV equipment and computer peripheral manufacturers, but also many car-related firms. The participants from the car industry are, for example, Alpine Electronics Inc, Clarion Co, Ltd, Denso Corp, Toyota Motor Corp, Fujitsu Ten Ltd and Pioneer Corp.
Of these companies, Toyota, which joined the iVDR Consortium in January 2004, named its three objectives as follows. First is to make it easy for customers to bring contents into their vehicles. Though it is possible to download contents to mounted devices via wireless networks, broadband connection is still difficult under the current circumstances.
"When considering costs and rates for data transmission per 1MB, it is quicker and less expensive to directly bring a HDD into the car by hand than to use a communication network," according to Toyota. Second, Toyota believes taking over the music and map data saved in the HDD should be easy when a customer replaces his or her car. Car navigation systems are currently mounted on cars with internal HDDs, but if the system is iVDR-compatible, the HDD can be easily removed from the car.
The third point is to protect copyrights and customers' privacy. The volume of data such as music and road maps to be installed in a HDD car navigation system is expanding.
"Existing car navigation systems' function is no more than route navigation, but they will be required to make traveling more amusing and comfortable. We would like to help our customers use the contents accumulated in their HDDs in accordance with their preferences and location of driving," according to Toyota.
However, to completely delete the installed data requires additional action such as data overwriting. If a used car mounted with a HDD car navigation system is placed on the market without such care, "copyrights of music and privacy of the old owner could be violated," Toyota said. The company expects it to get clear from that concern when HDDs become removable from car navigation systems.
Court filing and 5-12 products shipping this year
21 April 2004
Warren's Consumer Electronics Daily
Volume 4; Issue 77
Warren Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
E.Digital filed a claim with the American Arbitration Assn. seeking to enforce its supply contract with Eclipse by Fujitsu Ten. The filing, which seeks $2.5 million in damages, caps "several weeks" of "unsuccessful dialogue" between the companies during which Fujitsu Ten sought to buy out or restructure the supply agreement, e.Digital said. E.Digital, which signed an agreement with Fujitsu Ten in March 2002 to work on developing a car audio "infotainment" system based on its MicroOS platform, had expected the first revenue from the pact to arrive in the 4th quarter. The $892,000 order was originally expected to be delivered last summer and was later postponed until Nov., e.Digital CFO Robert Putnam told us. Production of the device at one of 2 Asian suppliers was stopped in mid-Feb., he said. The damages being sought are tied both to the amount of initial order and engineering costs, Putnam said. Fujitsu Ten officials weren't available for comment at our deadline.
E.Digital dropped its own branded products late last year as moved to pursue an OEM strategy tied to its software. The first of the MicroOS-based products arrived last fall in the form of Gateway's DMP-X20 juke box player and another 5-12 products from other vendors are expected to ship this year, Putnam said. China's TGE Group and Musical Instruments have agreements with e.Digital to build products based on MicroOS, Putnam. Many of the new products will be based on Cornice's 1" hard drive with a 1.5 GB hard drive. Cornice signed an agreement with e.Digital last fall.
Gateway Plans Move
Bloomberg News
1 April 2004
The New York Times
Gateway, a personal computer maker that has lost $1.84 billion in the last three years, will move its headquarters to Orange County, Calif., after buying eMachines. The company, based in Poway, a San Diego suburb, will pick a location within two weeks and may move as early as July, a spokesman, Robert Sherbin, said. The Los Angeles Times reported the move yesterday. Gateway this month purchased eMachines, based in Irvine, Calif. Gateway moved from South Dakota in 1998 to San Diego and in 2001 moved to its Poway headquarters.
Intel agrees to payment on patents
The New York Times
1 April 2004
SAN FRANCISCO:
Intel has agreed to pay $225 million to Intergraph to settle remaining claims that its Itanium chip infringed on Intergraph's patents. The settlement, announced Tuesday, brings the total amount that Intel has paid or will pay to Intergraph, a graphics software and systems company based in Huntsville, Alabama, to $675 million.
We're pleased with the outcome, Halsey Wise, Intergraph's president and chief executive, said by telephone. It allows us to focus on our ongoing intellectual property litigation.
Shares of Intergraph rose $3.28 on Tuesday, to $23.67, while Intel fell 26 cents, to $27.43
As part of the deal, Intergraph agreed to drop a 2002 lawsuit against Dell, which uses Intel's chips in its personal computers, and to give Dell a license to all of Intergraph's patents. Intel and Dell have an indemnity agreement that protects Dell from patent suits filed against Intel. Intel and Dell dispute the terms, but the two companies have decided to pursue an out-of-court solution.
Intergraph said it would continue to pursue its patent infringement charges against Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, which use Intel chips in their computers. Intergraph says its patents cover computer systems and components.
APS has 70 DigEplayers on United's new carrier
Local product, national test; Media players: Tacoma-based APS has 70 DigEplayers on United's new carrier
JOHN GILLIE
The News Tribune
17 March 2004
The News Tribune
South Sound
A start-up Tacoma airborne entertainment company, APS Inc., might add United Airlines to its customer list if tests of the company's portable entertainment system are successful with United's new low-fare carrier, called "Ted."
Bill Boyer, a baggage handler on leave from Alaska Airlines who is APS president, said Ted is auditioning about 70 of his 2.4-pound media players on flights between Denver and Florida.
Alaska Airlines, which pioneered the use of APS' DigEplayer last year, now offers customers rental media players on some of its longer flights.
Ted spokesman Jason Schechter said the upstart airline (the name comes from the second half of the word "United") is experimenting with rental pricing. During the first two weeks of testing, the airline offered the players to customers for $10 a flight with reasonable success. Ted now is trying lower prices to determine whether that increases business.
The battery-powered players offer as many as 20 full-length movies and hours of television shows and digital music to airline passengers.
Boyer said the players have been appealing to Alaska because that airline can offer passengers on its five- and six-hour transcontinental flights a variety of entertainment without huge investments in rewiring its planes for overhead or seatback screens.
Alaska aircraft have no built-in entertainment systems. Ted's Airbus A-320s have overhead screens that play recorded entertainment.
Ted is considering offering DigEplayers to its passengers because it wants to provide superior service to that of its low-fare rivals, Schechter said. Frontier and JetBlue Airways already offer airborne television programs.
Boyer, who also runs an espresso stand and a day spa in Lakewood, said APS has had serious discussions with several European airlines about offering DigEplayers on their flights. The company likewise is hoping to offer the players to corporate jet fleets.
And on Sunday, APS begins a DigEplayer trial with a trans-Pacific carrier whose identity is still confidential. Boyer said APS is producing players customized with that airline's colors and logo for the test.
- - -
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 39 Airworthiness Directives; Boeing Model 737-200 Series Airplanes Modified by Supplemental Type Certificate ST00516AT
15 March 2004
FedNet Government News
Washington, DC, Mar 15, 2004 (FedNet via COMTEX) --
This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to all Boeing Model 737-200 series airplanes modified by Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) ST00516AT, that requires removal of the in flight entertainment (IFE) system installed per that STC. This action is necessary to eliminate the possibility that the airplane crew could be unable to remove power from the IFE system during a non normal or emergency situation, which could result in the airplane crew's inability to control smoke or fumes in the airplane flight deck or cabin. This action is intended to address the identified unsafe condition.