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UK resellers fear iPod mini famine
By Karen Haslam
Thursday - March 25, 2004
Apple has confirmed a delay in shipping iPod minis worldwide, confirming UK resellers concerns that the shortage of iPod minis in the US will cause Apple to miss its April deadline for shipping the players in the UK and worldwide.
The iPod Mini has sold out after a month in US stores, according to The Guardian. Apple marketing vice president Greg Joswiak told USA Today: "We're asking people to be patient with us. We're making and shipping them as fast as we can."
One UK reseller told Macworld: "I think Apple will concentrate on meeting demand in the States before it focuses on a new territory."
Another reseller holds little hope that iPod minis will arrive in the UK in April. "I don't expect iPod minis to arrive here until June. We've had no indication of dates from Apple yet."
Other resellers believe that Apple's failure to confirm pricing for the iPod in the UK is another indication that the device will not be here by April. One said: "We haven't had any indication yet from Apple of availability. I would have expected it to have confirmed UK pricing by now if the iPod mini was going to be available in April."
Apple is yet to post order-details for the iPod mini on its online store for resellers. According to one reseller this is another indication of a delay. "They aren't even available on the resellers store yet, and we haven't received any indication from Apple as to when we will be able to place orders."
Another reseller said: "I think Apple will ship a limited number of iPod minis in May, so that it can say the shipping date was not significantly delayed. But stocks will be very limited over the summer."
Is this such bad news for Apple? Not necessarily. NPD analyst Steve Baker told USA Today: "Being sold out creates a lot of buzz for Apple," but, he warns: "It can't leave retailers hanging for too long. Competitors Creative Labs and Rio Audio who have similar small MP3 music players selling for less will benefit."
According to the Guardian, Apple UK insists there will be "plenty of iPod minis to go around", but the report suggests that "there is a chance that the iPod famine of last summer will return
Apple Says iPod Minis Flying Out the Door
By TSC Staff
3/25/2004 9:23 AM EST
Apple (AAPL:Nasdaq - news - research) rose in Thursday's premarket session as investors decided that its gross underestimation of demand for the iPod Mini digital music player validated a controversial pricing decision.
According to Apple, demand for the trimmed-down, fauvist version of its coveted mp3 device has been "much stronger than expected" since it started shipping in February, "far exceeding the total planned supply through the end of June." As a result, the company pushed back the worldwide availability of the product to July from April so it can boost manufacturing.
On the Instinet premarket session, Apple shares were recently up 56 cents, or 2.2%, to $26.06.
The iPod produced revenue of $345 million in the fiscal year ending September 2003, with unit sales rising to 939,000 from 381,000 the previous year. The company said it sold 730,000 of them over the holidays, its popularity rising in step with its digital music library, iTunes, which is selling dollar-each songs at a rate of 2.5 million a week.
Thursday's news appeared to relieve investors who worried Apple might have priced the Mini too high -- at about $250 it costs the same as a similar device from Dell (DELL:Nasdaq - news - research) but with less storage. Some observers had expected a version in the $100 range.
"The iPod mini is a huge hit with customers in the U.S. and we're sure it will be the same worldwide once we can ramp up our supply in the July quarter," Apple said in a release.
Digital Music: Apple Shouldn't Sing Solo
As Rivals Multiply, Jobs & Co. Will Make More Money From Its Music Site And IPods If All The Industry's Rival Players Can Share Its Software Standards
With 50 million songs sold as of mid-March, 2004, Apple's iTunes Music Store (iTMS) owns more than half of the music-download business. Apple (AAPL) execs note proudly that the iPod now rakes in more than 50% of the total revenues in the digital-music-player sector. Macheads offer these numbers as proof that the music battle is over -- and that Steve Jobs has won.
Not so fast. Wal-Mart (WMT), the world's largest retailer, fired a shot heard across the Internet on Mar. 24, with the launch of its own online music store, with 88-cent downloads -- 11 cents cheaper than Apple. If anything, this competition is just starting: Now-legitimate Napster has an online music service, Virgin is getting into the business, and Sony (SNE) is set to enter later this year (see BW Online, 3/10/04, "Virgin May Show Apple a Thing or Two", and 3/1/04 "The Nine Lives of Napster").
BATTLING THE WORLD? In this context, the fight over digital-music standards could be crucial to Apple's future. It has bet heavily on the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) standard, which it claims is a huge improvement over the older and much more popular MP3 standard. Apple has incorporated AAC as the primary standard in its iTunes software.
Naturally, Microsoft (MSFT) sees the future of music differently. Redmond is pushing hard for music software and device makers to adopt its Windows Media Audio as a primary standard. Falling in line with Microsoft are Apple's music-player competitors -- Samsung, Dell (DELL), iRiver, and Creative Technology (CREAF), among others. Like the iPod, these boxes will also play files encoded in MP3 and WAV, among others.
The music-download sites competing with Apple -- including MusicMatch and Roxio's (ROXI) Napster service -- also use WMA. Sony's upcoming service is expected to adopt WMA as well, since the outfit's computer business remains a hard-core Windows shop.
So yet again, it's starting to look like Apple against the rest of the world. True, Apple's deal with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) to build HP-branded iPods puts one of the biggest PC players in Jobs's corner. But pushing a standard that stands apart from everyone else in the computing and digital-device world may prove to be short-sighted.
GROWING COMPETITION. If Apple really wants to boost AAC, it would allow other device and software makers to license Apple's own FairPlay digital-rights-management (DRM) system. DRM is computer code bound to each downloaded track or album that carries instructions on how the music may be used. For example, FairPlay allows unlimited CD burns of single tracks but doesn't allow songs bought through iTMS to be played on other devices or to be traded on file-swapping networks. While anyone can use AAC -- it's an open standard, after all, and widely available for licensing -- FairPlay puts a barrier between Apple and the rest of the online music community because iTMS downloads can play only on iPods.
That may sound like a good way to lock customers in. For a while, I thought so. But the announcements of new online music stores keep coming. And Napster's parent company has raised revenue guidance for its online music sales to $5.5 million, from the $3 million range, for the quarter concluding at the end of March. That translates into a run rate of 5 million or so songs per quarter, which is an improvement -- but still a far cry from Apple's music sales, which are in the tens of millions of dollars worth of songs each quarter.
Jobs himself recently acknowledged that Apple could miss its target of 100 million iTMS songs sold by April. Add up these discordant factors, and the competition for iTMS could start to stiffen in 2005. Apple may wind up isolated with a standard nobody else is using.
WARY OF REDMOND. It doesn't have to be this way. Apple could still guide digital-music standards for years to come -- and create a more open, competitive marketplace that will ultimately benefit everyone -- except Microsoft. How? By letting go of FairPlay and trusting the market -- as well as its own ability to make killer consumer devices.
While Apple's competitors have embraced WMA, they hardly relish the thought of their business becoming heavily dependent on another standard that Redmond controls. I asked several of Apple's competitors in both music hardware and software if they would like to license FairPlay and include AAC as an optional format. They indicated that it's something they would be very interested in.
Apple's AAC/FairPlay combo already owns the largest share of the music-download market. If music players from other outfits could use iTMS, then customers could move back and forth from one brand to another. True, that would mean less of a lock for Apple's iPod. But it would be a big boost to iTMS revenues.
MULTIPLE PERMUTATIONS. By allowing competitors to leverage the already popular AAC/FairPlay combo, Apple would give them a strong alternative to WMA. Apple might lose out a bit in the short run. But it would be far more likely to prevail over the long haul if it allowed these natural allies into the fold. If Apple truly believes it can make the most innovative music players and software, then it has little to worry about from competition. Standards barriers that ghettoize Apple's music efforts pose a far greater long-term risk.
This would fly in the face of Apple's long-standing belief that the way to create the best user experience is through tightly integrated hardware and software. However, Apple has already made a version of iTMS to work with Windows machines. True, iTMS for Windows has to play nice with only a single piece of hardware -- the iPod -- right now. But it still needs to contend with the multiple hardware and driver permutations that make up the complicated WinTel landscape.
One last point. By most accounts, iTMS is the smoothest, best online music store around. While Jobs & Co. doesn't make any profit from the store yet -- it's a loss leader for the iPod -- Apple could end up making boatloads of money if iTMS becomes one of the handful of default players and stores for what will clearly be a multibillion dollar market.
SOFTWARE, NOT HARDWARE. That's where the long-term opportunity lies. I'd bet customers would pay a premium for a really good music player now. And they'll pay for worthwhile content on the Web going forward, be it music or sports or access to specific news sites. But beyond hardcore Apple aficionados, they won't pay premium prices for hardware or devices for very long into the future. There isn't a single type of electronic device that hasn't suffered from shockingly rapid price devaluations.
Right now, customers seem ready to shell out for the iPod's cool cachet. That might even hold up for two years or so: The Sony Walkman lasted a number of years before competition heated up. But ultimately, the rest of the market will catch up enough to become more competitive. Already, iRiver's players, in particular, are getting kudos from reviewers (see BW, 3/29/04, "Taking On iPod"). And when device makers start to catch up, Apple will be in a stronger market position if it still controls the software, rather than the hardware.
I know. This stands Apple's traditional business model on its head. But the impossible already happened when Apple started building products for Windows. I'll take the margins on software over those for hardware any day. And I would take a smaller share of a much bigger digital-music pie over the prospect of facing down Redmond and everyone else in what could turn into a really rough music war.
OT: Memorex Mini DVDs Offer Consumers Outstanding Value for Home Video Recording
Tuesday March 23, 10:30 am ET
Mini DVD-R and Mini DVD-RW Discs Are Ideal for Direct to Disc Camcorders and Mobile Storage
CERRITOS, Calif., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Memorex, the number one brand of digital media, introduces the conveniently compact and ultra-versatile Memorex Mini DVD. At eight centimeters in diameter, the discs are ideal for home video recording with DV camcorders like the Sony Handycam®, as well as mobile storage of multimedia presentations, videos, MP3 files and data. The high performance, high quality Memorex Mini DVDs offer consumers an exceptional combination of performance and value.
With Mini DVDs, amateur movie makers can record directly onto disc with a DV camcorder. Available in -R and -RW formats, the Memorex discs let consumers record 30 minutes of video or 1.4 GB of data right to the disc inside the camcorder, saving valuable production time over transferring videos and still photos onto a computer and then burning a DVD. Memorex Mini DVDs read and record at up to 4X speed and rewrite at up to 2X speed. Consumers also can use Memorex Mini DVDs for PC recording and to replay discs in most standard DVD players.
"We believe our new line of Mini DVDs proves once again that Memorex offers the most comprehensive and affordable optical media solution available at retail today," said Brad Yeager, senior product marketing manager for digital media. "With Memorex Mini DVDs, consumers can capture life's important moments with their DV camcorders, and easily share them with family and friends."
Smaller discs are not new to Memorex, which currently holds 50 percent of the Pocket CD market with its Pocket CD-R and CD-RW discs, and looks to duplicate this enormous success with its Mini DVD-R and Mini DVD-RW discs.
Pricing and Availability
Packages of five Memorex Mini DVD-R discs cost $29.99 and are now available in retail stores nationwide. Packages of three Mini rewritable DVD-RW discs cost $29.99 and will be in retail stores nationwide in the middle of April.
Is it live or is it Memorex? Memorex Products, Inc. is the industry sales and marketing leader of digital media and media accessories. Since the early 1970s, Memorex has been one of the most widely recognized and respected names in the consumer electronics industry. Today, it is an influential brand in CD and DVD media, optical drives, flash memory, flash drives and computer peripherals, such as keyboards and mice. Memorex is headquartered in Cerritos, Calif. For more information on Memorex Products, Inc. or its products, please call 562-653-2800, or visit the company's Web site at www.memorex.com.
NOTE: Memorex and the Memorex logo are trademarks of Memorex International Inc.
All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements or industry results to be very different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.
New Ted PR NO digEplayer mention..YET
Ted Comes Home to Chicago; United Airlines' New Low-Fare Service Flies Home to O'Hare International Airport
Tuesday March 23, 6:01 am ET
CHICAGO, March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United's new low-fare carrier Ted is expanding service to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, United's home market and largest hub. Ted will offer Chicago-area travelers five daily roundtrips to Tampa, eight daily roundtrips to Las Vegas, seven daily roundtrips to Orlando, six daily roundtrips to Phoenix and four daily roundtrips to Ft. Lauderdale.
Tickets for Ted flights out of Chicago will go on sale on Saturday, March 27, 2004, and the distinct blue and orange planes will begin flying from O'Hare on May 24. Flights can be booked on flyted.com.
"We're thrilled to be adding Chicago to our Ted schedule," said Sean Donohue, vice president of Ted. "Ted has been extremely well-received by customers in other markets, running ahead of our initial forecasts in bookings and seats filled. We're confident that Chicago customers also will welcome Ted with open arms." In fact, Ted filled approximately 82 percent of seats in its first month of flying, ahead of company forecasts.
"Chicago is a crucial market for United, since it is our largest and busiest hub," said Pete McDonald, executive vice president -- operations. "It is important that we offer our Chicago customers our full portfolio of product offerings, and of course that includes Ted."
The Ted fleet flying out of O'Hare will feature the popular Airbus A320, each with 156 seats, featuring a 66-seat Economy Plus section with four extra inches of legroom. All Ted passengers can earn Mileage Plus miles for their Ted flights and will have access to United's suite of Easy products including EasyCheck-In and EasyUpdate.
Ted offers customers a simple and affordable pricing structure with just six everyday fares, as well as promotional fares on selected routes. Specific fare information for O'Hare will be available beginning Saturday, March 27 on www.flyted.com.
Ted brings a relaxed, casual, and hassle-free flight experience to the low-fare travel marketplace, complete with pre-assigned seating and exclusive onboard entertainment. Ted fliers can enjoy overhead programming called "Tedevision," which offers an array of selections ranging from music videos and stand-up comedy, to sitcoms. "Tedtunes" is also available, showcasing music genres including dance and club; Latin; kids tunes; Top 40 and home- grown music from Ted destinations. Free, multi-colored headsets are available to Ted passengers, premium food items can be purchased a-la-carte style on flights over two and a half hours.
Ted also offers complimentary beverage service, with premium beverages available for purchase including Ted's favorites -- Foster's Lager and margaritas.
About Ted
Ted, part of United, provides service to many popular leisure destinations, with more being added throughout 2004. Combining outstanding service with unique on-board amenities and entertainment, along with full participation in United's award-winning frequent flier program, Ted offers a
unique experience among low-cost carriers. More information and current fares
can be found at flyted.com.
About United
United, United Express and Ted (OTC Bulletin Board: UALAQ.OB - News) operate more than 3,400 flights a day on a route network that spans the globe. News releases and other information about United can be found at the company's web site at www.united.com.
Worldwide Communications:
Media Relations Office: 847.700.5538
Evenings/Weekends: 847.700.4088
OT: Audible Now Offering $100 Instant Rebates on Apple iPods and Other Bestselling Handheld Devices on Amazon.com
WAYNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 2004--
Subscribe to an AudibleListener(R) Membership Plan and Receive a $100 Rebate on MP3 Players and PDAs at Amazon.com
Audible, Inc. (OTC BB: ADBL) today announced an instant rebate of $100 on best-selling AudibleReady(R) handheld devices for those Amazon.com customers who commit to a 12-month AudibleListener(R) membership plan as part of their device purchase. Audible is the leading provider of digitally delivered spoken word audio.
Details on the $100 instant rebate can be found at www.amazon.com by searching on a specific AudibleReady digital audio player. AudibleReady portable digital audio players such as the Apple iPod or iPod Mini, and personal digital assistants including palmOne Zire, Tungsten handhelds, select Sony Clie models, and Pocket PCs from Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba are all included in this special offer.
"We are confident that shoppers looking to get the most out of their iPod, Tungsten, Jornada, or other portable device will welcome the convenience of having a vast range of audiobook best sellers and other informative and entertaining programs available to them wherever they go," said Foy Sperring, senior vice president of Strategic Alliances, Audible, Inc. "This $100 instant rebate is another step forward in Audible's relationship with Amazon.com. We look forward to serving new AudibleListeners as a result of this initiative."
About Audible.com:
Audible.com, named the best entertainment software in the Internet by CNet.com (June 2002), and one of the "Best of Today's Web" by PC World (August 2002) features daily audio editions of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times - available on a subscription basis in time for the morning drive to work each day-as well as Forbes, Harvard Management Update, Scientific American and Fast Company. The site offers a powerful collection of audiobook best sellers and classics by authors such as Tom Clancy, Stephen King, John Grisham, Janet Evanovich, James Patterson, the Dalai Lama, David McCullough, Stephen Hawking, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Jane Austen. There are also speeches, lectures, and on-demand radio programs including Marketplace, All Things Considered, Car Talk, Fresh Air and This American Life, and original shows such as RobinWilliams@audible.com. All of the programs at audible.com are available for computer-based playback, burning to audio CD, and on-the-go listening using numerous AudibleReady(TM) portable digital audio players offered by leading consumer electronics and computer manufacturers.
McDonalds/Apple would not have worked. Apple already with Pepsi. McDonalds sells Coke...BIG war there.
McDonald's, Sony Said to Be in Music Pact
The fast-food chain would help market the launch of a new service to download tunes, sources say.
Times Staff Writer
Published March 22, 2004
Hungry for a taste of the online music business, Sony Corp. is aiming to line up McDonald's Corp. to market the Japanese conglomerate's new download service, according to people familiar with the deal.
The two companies have been hammering out the details of a pact in which McDonald's would provide fast-food diners with free songs from Sony's online music store, Sony Connect, these people said. The deal is expected to be announced this week.
Representatives from Sony and McDonald's declined to comment.
The sources said McDonald's was expected to commit about $30 million to advertise the program in the U.S. and beef up the launch of Sony Connect, which will charge 99 cents per song when it starts up this spring.
In exchange, sources said, McDonald's will be able to buy some tunes from Sony Connect at unspecified discounts. The fast-food giant plans to give customers free songs when they buy certain menu items; customers will receive codes they can redeem online for downloads.
The pact would underscore a central strategy of would-be players in the online music world: find major advertisers with the marketing clout to sell alternatives to the illegal downloading of music on unauthorized file-sharing networks such as Kazaa and LimeWire.
Sony has already announced a deal with UAL Corp.'s United Airlines in which travelers, once the Connect service starts, will be able to trade in frequent flier miles for free songs. And Apple Computer Inc. has teamed with PepsiCo Inc. to award buyers of soft drinks downloads from the iTunes Music Store if they find special codes under bottle caps.
Pepsi pledged to give away up to 100 million songs in the bottle-cap contest. But Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said recently that the redemptions had fallen short of expectations.
One person familiar with the McDonald's deal said the fast-food company would probably give away more than 100 million Sony Connect songs in the U.S.
McDonald's had been in talks to launch a similar marketing effort with Apple, but switched plans after a last-minute pitch from Sony, sources said.
The McDonald's deal comes as Sony is racing to build a presence on the online landscape and drive sales of its own line of portable music devices. Sony, which introduced music lovers to portability with the Walkman, has lagged behind such rivals as Apple, which dominates the field with its iTunes service and has seized market share with the iPod music player.
Now, Sony not only has to catch up to Apple, but it also has to confront other online players, including Microsoft Corp., which is developing its own Internet music store.
For McDonald's, the aim is to build a hipper image among young consumers.
McDonald's, which has hired pop singer Justin Timberlake to appear in its commercials, has been laying large bets on the marketing power of music.
The McDonald's-Sony alliance is expected to focus on Sony's music service, but the sources said it might be extended to market Sony video games and other products.
Copyright © 2004, The Los Angeles Times
Audible and Rio Audio Partner to Spread the Word; Rio, Karma, Rio Nitrus, and Future Portable Audio Players to Support AudibleReady Technology and the Audible.com Audio Service
WAYNE, N.J. & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2004--Audible, Inc. (OTC BB: ADBL) and Rio today announced that the Rio Karma and Rio Nitrus line of portable audio players will join the AudibleReady(R) family of audio devices that support Audible's secure spoken word audio delivery standard. The Rio players will also ship with Audible branding and service offers, and they will be co-marketed as part of a coordinated retail sales strategy due to launch in the third quarter 2004.
At that time, all Rio Karma and Rio Nitrus portable audio players will be compatible with Audible's award-winning audio download service and will support Audible's downloadable audiobooks, audio editions of periodicals and newspapers, public radio programs, language instruction, and educational programming. The compatibility between Rio Audio devices and the Audible Internet audio service will be promoted in the set-up CD-ROM and brochures inside product boxes, preloaded audio samples on all devices, and coordinated point of sale and promotional programs at Rio Audio retailers.
"Audible is considered to be one of the best audio information and entertainment services on the Web, and we are pleased to be offering our Rio customers the ability to experience Audible content alongside their music," said Kevin Brangan, Vice President Product Marketing at Rio Audio. "Our integration of AudibleReady technology means that our Karma and Nitrus players will provide the best spoken word and audiobook experience and also have access to audible.com's 40,000 hours of programming."
"This agreement with our fellow digital audio pioneers at Rio represents a major step forward for Audible's AudibleReady device strategy," said Foy Sperring, Senior Vice President, Strategic Alliances, Audible, Inc. "This strategic agreement comes at a time of intense growth and increased consumer acceptance of digital audio devices and digital audio delivery. Audible offers listeners the best spoken audio programming, as well as a standard for securing, distributing, and listening to spoken word content. Rio constantly justifies the power of its brand with the cutting edge design and utility of its diverse line of MP3 players. This agreement represents a milestone for Audible and is very significant for consumers who are discovering the power and convenience of the digital audio download experience."
About Audible.com:
OT: AAC Chosen for DVD-ROM Zone of DVD-Audio Discs
(If repost.... sorry)
The DVD Forum has chosen AAC for the DVD-ROM zone of DVD-Audio discs – the inclusion of a low-resolution (lossy) track suitable for solid-state and portable devices has long been championed by DVD-Audio figureheads such as Dolby’s John Kellogg as a way of enhancing the value of the format to all listeners, not just those interested in its high-resolution potential.
The selection of AAC came after a number of competing formats were proposed; they included MP3, ATRAC and Microsoft’s WMA. Additional formats, such as Vorbis Ogg for example, were not put forward for consideration.
High Fidelity Review has learnt that AAC was chosen for a number of reasons, a Forum member told us that it was clear from the outset that it was “…sounded much better than the others,” although WMA was not included in the early stages of testing. No details of the subjective (or objective) testing methods were forthcoming, nor any information about the bitrates evaluated.
Another positive factor was that AAC is perceived favourably by the music industry because of its integral copyright protection measures and a history of use by legitimate, paid download organisations such as Apple. Conversely, content providers shudder at the very mention of MP3, it is seen as being the root of all evils where piracy activities are concerned. AAC can also deliver multi-channel content.
However, it could be argued that the choice of AAC will limit consumer acceptance to some degree. While it is true that most portable devices support the format, it barely registers in terms of public awareness, unlike MP3, which has become a buzzword for every teenager and his dog.
The inclusion of a DVD-ROM zone upon a DVD-Audio disc is the choice of the label concerned and is likely to be based upon whether or not they believe the addition will behove the title. In other words, we’re probably going to see lossy content for the likes of music PC and iPod users on a Britney Spears disc, but not as part of the latest freeform jazz title from The Other People.
AAC is not an option however, it is the only approved lossy format and portable players will default to this area of the disc for a number of reasons; it can be replayed with considerably less processing power than the high-resolution content (a welcome side-effect being increased battery life) and the disc only needs to spin at low speeds given that the data throughput required is just a fraction of that demanded by MLP or PCM.
And what of encoders? Once again AAC suffers alongside MP3 and even Vorbis Ogg, for which there are a plethora of end-user solutions. Those behind DVD-Audio don’t see this as a problem however, stating that until there is a consumer authoring package for DVD-Audio discs with ROM zone support the issue is moot. It seems logical that when such a package does become available, it should automatically include an AAC encoder.
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) was developed by Dolby Laboratories, Fraunhofer, AT&T, Sony and Nokia to provide high-quality audio that compresses more efficiently than earlier formats. Licensing is handled by Via Licensing Corporation, an independent subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, who also license Meridian Lossless Packing, the compression scheme used for the high-resolution content of most DVD-Audio titles. For more information, visit the link at the foot of this story.
Forgot United ...
United Airlines
Rating the fare warriors
March 21, 2004
By Jane Engle, Times Staff Writer
This industry giant, which traces its roots to a 1926 air-mail service, is the largest U.S. airline under bankruptcy protection. Since filing in December 2002, it has continued to fly but was still in Chapter 11 at the Travel section's press time Tuesday.
United has cut costs, reduced some business fares, launched a low-cost carrier named Ted and made other changes to pull out of its financial tailspin.
At Boston's Logan airport, I checked in for my 9 p.m. flight to Denver at one of the self-serve kiosks. The remaining staff tagged bags and processed customers with paper tickets.
The gate agents were efficient and cheerful although devoid of knock-knock jokes — a mercy, perhaps. Ditto for the onboard crew.
The mostly gray cabin of our B757 showed some fatigue: Worn seatback pockets were stuffed with unwrapped headphones and well-thumbed airline and Sky Mall magazines. I missed having a personal TV, although "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," screened on drop-down cabin monitors, was a classy film offering.
My main complaint was legroom. With the seat in front reclined, my knees cleared the seatback by barely 2 inches, less than half the gap on Song and JetBlue. I'm 5 feet, 7 inches tall. No wonder 6-footers scramble for bulkhead and exit-row seats.
There was no free food on my 4 1/2-hour flight, another "frill" that the once-glamorous majors are eliminating to compete with their low-cost cousins. But my $7 chicken Caesar salad wrap, bought onboard, was ample and tasty.
Except for legroom, United delivered a good flying experience. Yet it got a lukewarm response from several passengers I spoke with.
Typical was Avery Hancock, a San Francisco resident who attends college in Boston. When asked why she takes United, she replied, "I'm used to it, and I get [frequent flier] miles." Besides, she added, discounter Southwest doesn't fly this route.
As for the fare: Had I booked JetBlue, I could have flown for $87.50 instead of the $127.60 I paid on United.
Flying the frugal skies can be fun
We fly five carriers, including newcomers Song and Ted, and find that the little things (jokes, entertainment) go a long way.
Rating the fare warriors
March 21, 2004
By Jane Engle, Times Staff Writer
Time was, Southwest was the only discount airline most people knew. No more. The "bus of the skies" has a host of imitators, all promising low fares and high fun.
Now the question is this: Who really delivers?
To find out, I rode four self-proclaimed low-cost carriers — Delta's Song, JetBlue, United's new Ted and Southwest — plus United on a cross-country barnstorming tour last month to compare service, entertainment options, food, comfort levels, fares and more.
My main impression of these five (chosen because they serve this market or they're new): Song was a standout, with its cheerfully corny crew, wacky color scheme, gourmet food and onboard trivia contests. JetBlue pulled up second. As for the rest, I found little difference in the flying experience — or sometimes even fares — from one to the next.
I chose a route that would take me from Los Angeles to the East Coast and back: Song from LAX to Orlando, Fla.; JetBlue from Orlando to Boston; United from Boston to Denver; Ted from Denver to Las Vegas; and Southwest from Las Vegas to LAX.
This was not a scientific sampling, certainly. Trip legs varied from 4 1/2 hours on Song and United to an hour on Southwest. I wasn't able to taste full menus on all flights. Even within the same airline, different crews may give different service. Fares, of course, shift constantly.
So I can report only what I found on my flights, detailed in the order flown:
Song
By Jane Engle, Times Staff Writer
Delta launched this low-cost carrier last April on a fashionable note: Kate Spade designer crew duds, organic buy-onboard menu by former W Hotel chef Michel Nischan and seatback TVs. All this plus extra legroom.
The airline shuttles mainly between the Northeast and Florida but also flies nonstop to Florida from the West, including Los Angeles. Its promise, on its website, http://www.flysong.com : "The song is personal. It's unique. Memorable. And brings a smile to your face."
It does just that, for the most part. My LAX gate crew for my morning Song nonstop to Orlando was subdued. But at 54B next door, a Song agent regaled — or tormented — his captive audience with jokes such as: "Knock knock." "Who's there?" "Shelby." "Shelby who?" "Shelby coming around the mountain when she comes."
"We try to make it fun," he said.
Inside the squeaky-clean B757 cabin, where the color scheme was bright blue with lime, purple and orange accents, the good humor carried through to the safety audio, set to salsa music.
"You're lucky," the crew told us: We were on one of the first Song planes to be wired for live satellite TV, with 24 channels.
Or not so lucky. For more than half the flight, my seatback monitor and some others cut out every few seconds. ("It worked perfectly" westbound, the apologetic crew said.)
A diverting bonus was an on-screen music-trivia contest with such questions as: "What was the name of Kid Creole's band?" and " 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was a super-hit for which group?" (Answers: the Coconuts; Nirvana.) Sign-on names and seat numbers were posted for the top 10 scorers. (My tally: an unhip 44%.)
You pay for food, and it's not cheap. But my gourmet vegan sandwich, a 7-inch-diameter lavash stuffed with grilled vegetables, tofu and rice, was worth the $8, and the Song Sunrise (vodka, orange juice and a splash of cran-apple), $5, wasn't bad either.
When I asked a shuttle van driver the next day what he'd heard about Song, he replied: "I hear mixed. There are no magazines and no [free] food."
Almost true. (There was a budget travel magazine in my seatback.) But I agreed with fellow passenger Ann Nethero of Moorpark: "When I was told I was flying Song, I thought, 'What kind of rinky-dink airline is that?' But it's really nice."
So was my one-way fare: $129.10 (including taxes), the lowest in the market the day I booked it.
JetBlue
By Jane Engle, Times Staff Writer
This 4-year-old New York-based carrier, with a West Coast hub in Long Beach, has enjoyed a meteoric rise, powered by low fares, roomy leather seats and 24 channels of satellite TV beamed to every seatback. It flies to 23 cities (including Ontario, Calif.) in 11 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
It also sports a breezy, cheeky style.
When the door to the jetway kept setting off an alarm as I waited for my 7:35 a.m. flight to Boston, the JetBlue gate agent in Orlando made the sign of the cross and remarked, "That was just to make sure you guys were awake."
Directing us to pick up headphones from a box before boarding, he announced, "They're free now. But if you get on the plane, they're $5,000."
By comparison, the crew on our A320 played it straight. But flying was still fun.
My TV monitor worked, with occasional audio glitches. I'd been able to plan my viewing before flying by checking schedules on http://www.jetblue.com . Guides to travel manners ("Be nice"; "Pack your own meal") and "Airplane Yoga, or how to look like a real weirdo to your fellow passengers" were clever.
The downside on my nearly three-hour flight: no magazines and skimpy, albeit free, food offerings. The latter included the airline's reduced-fat "blue" potato chips, party mix and cookies. There was no buy-on-board program. The cabin was a vision in gray; I missed Song's hues.
Nonetheless, JetBlue has a near-fanatic following.
"They're wonderful," said Jen Savage, a passenger from Saco, Maine. "You get your own TV. They have good prices."
Yes they do. My one-way fare was $87.60, lowest in the market when I booked.
United Airlines
Ted
By Jane Engle, Times Staff Writer
I had high hopes for a fun date with Ted, the low-cost operation that United launched in February from its new Denver hub, serving Ontario, Calif., and other cities.
Sporting white, blue and orange plumage, Ted, which takes its name from the last three letters of United, is "warm, friendly and casual," its publicity says. It also seemed aggressively trendy. The onboard "Tedevision" and "Tedtunes" entertainment was getting enthusiastic reviews from teens.
But I was mostly disappoin-Ted.
It started with check-in at the Denver airport for my afternoon nonstop to Las Vegas, where I confronted a bank of automated kiosks. A couple of the staffers who worked the counters, tagging bags and giving tips on using the kiosks, wore Ted baseball caps, but they served United customers too.
When I asked a mostly monosyllabic Ted-cap wearer about the meal policy, she replied: "I don't know. You'll have to ask the gate agent." He told me there would be no meals because the one-hour, 49-minute flight was too short to qualify. (On longer flights, you can buy $7 club sandwiches and salmon Caesar salads.)
At the gate, there was a forest of orange signs, offering cheery greetings such as "It's a great day to be flying," and "Ted is happy to see you."
But onboard, it was much like flying United, with its pleasant but business-like crew and cramped legroom. Plus one unsettling oversight: a used tissue in my seatback pocket.
Ted's entertainment was hipper, of course. There was no seatback satellite TV, but drop-down monitors showed a Liz Phair music video, a profile of teen singer-actress Mandy Moore, an episode of NBC's "Scrubs" comedy and other shows. Music on 14 channels ranged from retro to house and trance mixes; classical was scarce.
We got little bags of party mix and beverages, including what Ted touts as Starbucks coffee. The anemic liquid in my cup bore little resemblance to that heart-racing brew.
When I asked a couple of passengers what they thought of their Ted flight, they shrugged, although acknowledging they liked the music.
"They've got to work on that coffee," added a woman across the aisle.
That and a couple of other things.
On the upside, Ted delivered the lowest fare of the five carriers I compared, $179.10, matching low-cost competitor Frontier
Southwest Airlines
By Jane Engle, Times Staff Writer
This granddaddy of discount carriers, launched in 1971 from Texas, pioneered "flying for peanuts" with a sense of humor.
Although Southwest's flights, once regional, now stretch from coast to coast, you'll still get only peanuts on shorter sojourns, and you won't get a reserved seat. Just hope you get into Boarding Group A.
But Southwest is looking a little tired these days, judging from the packed, hourlong flight I took from Las Vegas to LAX.
The repairman apparently hadn't made a recent pass through our B737 cabin. My reading light didn't work. The seat in front was locked in half-recline. A couple nearby shifted seats, complaining they couldn't turn off the arctic blast from their air vent.
Although the crew was pleasant enough, they weren't funny. Not one corny joke or silly guessing game. Just the standard safety announcements.
I was grateful for my two bags of free peanuts and an apple juice and for my $47.60 fare, the lowest on the day I'd booked it. Southwest still gets that right.
But for me, on this trip, there was little difference between flying Southwest or United or Ted.
For some, that's the point.
"I used to hate Southwest because it was a bus, and other airlines offered better service," said Martin Fung, a Los Angeles businessman waiting in the Las Vegas airport for his flight home. "But now Southwest is more consistent."
Nearby, Gail Orr, a lawyer from Calabasas also waiting to fly home on Southwest, commented, "They're cheap, and they get you there. What more could you ask?"
But some fliers do ask for more.
Allison Zahorik of Redondo Beach, a handbag designer who was in Las Vegas for business, is a fan of Southwest, having been on flights with more typically jolly crews.
"I like the people," she said. "They make a lot of jokes and make you feel comfortable." For a less-than-avid flier like her, "it makes a huge difference," she said.
Doug Benton, an engineer from Northampton, Mass., whom I met earlier in my journey, explained it this way: "Flying is inherently stressful to me. So any time they try to lighten it up, it's helpful." He "absolutely loved" having his own seatback TV on Song.
I hope the airlines are listening to customers like Zahorik and Benton.
Flying, after all, was once fun. As Song and JetBlue prove, it still can be, even when done on the cheap.
chiselweed re read article eom
Spirit Airlines to add frills
Entertainment systems to be upgraded
March 20, 2004
BY RAJIV VYAS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Spirit Airlines started almost 20 years ago as a no-frills, low-fare airline, but now it is taking a page out of JetBlue Airways' business plan and attempting to improve on it.
Within a year, Detroit Metro Airport's second-largest carrier plans to equip its jets with the latest in-flight entertainment system -- more modern than those on JetBlue's planes, the airline said Friday.
While no-frills Southwest Airlines is the grandfather of the successful low-fare airline, JetBlue has been creating a new model since it was launched four years ago.
Instead of eliminating frills, it took off with gleaming new planes that boasted leather seats, extra legroom and television screens at each seat showing 24 channels of satellite television from DirecTV.
By offering this and low fares, JetBlue planes are the fullest in the industry.
Spirit's decision to model itself more after JetBlue is a major step that will be noticed by fliers.
Spirit CEO Jacob Schorr said Spirit's entertainment system will be "more modern than JetBlue because it will be the latest and not like the one designed in 1999."
Earlier this week, Spirit lowered its cancellation charges from $75 per ticket to $25, matching those of JetBlue.
And in the next few months, Spirit passengers should be able to order meals by paying extra.
Schorr discussed Spirit's expansion plans the day after it announced its order with Airbus Industrie for 35 new jets worth $2 billion and an option to buy 60 more. The total value of the deal could reach $5 billion.
Spirit Airlines' move to offer state-of-the-art entertainment systems would benefit travelers, including those in Detroit and at the same time heat up competition with larger airlines such as Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines Inc., experts said.
"If you got a choice between flying an airline with an in-flight entertainment system and another without an in-flight entertainment, it's a no-brainer," said Terry Trippler, a Minneapolis airline consultant at Cheap Seats.com.
Spirit's new jets would gradually replace its old fleet of Boeing MD-80s. Only the new Airbus jets would have in-flight entertainment systems.
Schorr said six of the 35 planes would be 124-passenger A319s and 29 would be 220-passenger A321s. The airline plans to use the A321s on high-traffic routes.
The first plane is scheduled to arrive in March 2005. The airline expects to have 12 by the end of 2005, a similar number by the end of 2006 and 11 by the end of 2007.
With more planes, Spirit plans to double its number of daily flights from 115 to as much as 230. In Detroit, Spirit plans to add about 15 new daily flights by the end of 2006 and about 25 by the end of 2008, Schorr said. Currently, Spirit has between 20 and 25 daily nonstop flights from Detroit.
Schorr said the airline could announce a nonstop flight from Detroit to Cancun, Mexico, as soon as it gets regulatory approval to fly the route. The flight would be Spirit's first direct international service from Detroit.
Most Michiganders are not familiar with JetBlue's version of low-cost travel because it doesn't fly here -- or many other places in the Midwest.
But launched just four years ago, JetBlue has rewritten much of the book on start-up discount airlines.
It serves 23 cities, primarily in the Northeast, Southeast and West. New York's Kennedy International Airport is its primary hub. Buffalo is the nearest city to Detroit that it serves.
Not only is JetBlue popular with passengers, it has the highest profit margin in the industry -- 16.9 percent in 2003, although the carrier said that promotions and stiff competition will drop the operating margin in the first three months of this year to as low as 9 percent.
But the carrier's underlying model is "rock solid," said Jon Ash of Global Aviation Associates in Washington, D.C.
JetBlue's costs are the lowest of any big airline when measured by what a carrier pays to fly one seat one air mile, or a seat mile.
"They ought to be able to produce margins in the high teens, and that's just not too shabby," Ash said, noting that any carrier would drool for such figures. "I don't see any reason why that wouldn't be sustainable for them."
Contact RAJIV VYAS at 313-222-8760 or vyas@freepress.com. The Dallas Morning News contributed to this report.
Spirit Airlines Places Orders for New Aircraft; 35 Aircraft Ordered, Up to 95 Possible
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 19, 2004--Spirit Airlines announces today that it has entered into agreements to entirely replace its MD-80 fleet with orders for up to 95 new Airbus aircraft. "The firm commitment for 35 aircraft, valued at approximately $2 billion, will allow us to accelerate our significant growth plans and more than double our size," said Jacob Schorr, Chairman and CEO of Spirit Airlines.
"This is the second phase of a three-point growth plan for Spirit," Schorr said. "Phase one was completed just three weeks ago when we received a $125 million investment from a group of investors led by Oaktree Capital Management, LLC. This order signifies the beginning of phase two as we invest the capital to grow. Phase three will be detailed as we make additional announcements about future growth plans."
"Spirit already has one of the lowest costs of operation in the airline industry, and the new Airbus aircraft which are technologically advanced and fuel efficient will assure our continued leadership. Spirit chose the Airbus aircraft in part because of its wider cabin providing more comfort to our passengers and superior customer amenities. Thus, the choice of the Airbus A320 Family of aircraft was a clear one," said Schorr. "IAE V2500 engines were chosen for their superior fuel efficiency which Spirit feels will become an ever increasing factor in maintaining its low cost structure," said Schorr.
The value of these agreements, including 60 options, could be as high as $5 billion. "This is a combination of deals with three major global corporations; Airbus, IAE International Aero Engines and ILFC (International Lease Finance Corporation)," explained Schorr.
Currently Spirit Airlines has a fleet of 32 MD-80 aircraft which will be replaced on an expedited basis as the new aircraft are delivered.
About Spirit Airlines
In 2003, Spirit had the 2nd highest load factor of any U.S. airline. In the past five years the airline doubled its revenues to a reported $450 million in 2003. During this period of extraordinary growth, Spirit made significant investments in its systems, technology, product and brand, all focused on improving customer service and satisfaction.
In addition, Spirit developed state-of-the-art, proprietary reservation and departure control systems and initiated a new class of service, Spirit Plus. Spirit Plus offers business class leather seating with complimentary beverages and a snack. During this time, Spirit also successfully introduced a new, easy-to-use website that currently accounts for approximately 60 percent of total bookings.
The company expects to continue to invest in new technologies, including in-flight entertainment and facilities to provide value to its customers. The company will introduce e-service kiosks beginning next month, and Spirit has launched a number of web enhancements that improve the customer's ease of booking online.
Quick Facts
-- Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
-- Founded in 1990 in Eastpointe, Michigan
-- Spirit Airlines is the largest privately-held airline in the U.S.
-- Ranks as the 14th largest airline in the U.S.
-- 115 flights daily to 16 cities
-- 2,700 employees nationwide
-- Spirit's website is http://www.spiritair.com
Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 13 year old Spirit Airlines is the largest privately-held airline in the U.S. Spirit brings low fares and friendly service to 16 cities, including: Atlantic City, N.J., Cancun, Mexico, Chicago/O'Hare, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Myrtle Beach, S.C., New York/LaGuardia, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., the Florida cities of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa and seasonal service to West Palm Beach. Spirit's website is http://www.spiritair.com.
About Airbus
A leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive product line on the market, Airbus is a global company with design and manufacturing facilities throughout Europe, as well as subsidiaries in the U.S., China and Japan. Airbus is a joint EADS Company with BAE Systems. For more information http://www.airbus.com.
About ILFC (International Lease Finance Corporation)
California based ILFC is the international market leader in the leasing and remarketing of advanced technology commercial jet aircraft to airlines around the world. ILFC owns a portfolio valued at more than $30 billion, consisting of more than 600 jet aircraft. For more information http://www.ilfc.com.
About IAE International Aero Engines
Headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut, IAE is a multinational aero engine consortium whose shareholders comprise Pratt & Whitney (NYSE:UTX), Rolls-Royce (RR.L.), the Japanese Aero Engines Corporation and MTU Aero Engines.
Each IAE partner contributes an individual module to the V2500 engine. Pratt & Whitney produces the combustor and high-pressure turbine, Rolls-Royce the high-pressure compressor, JAEC the fan and low-pressure compressor and MTU the low-pressure turbine. Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce assemble and test the engines at their respective facilities in Connecticut, USA and Derby, UK. Website is http://www.v2500.com.
Was that an honest question? eom
Due to political correctness, I am not allowed to say the typical Chinese method is to buy small amounts, copy and then sell without the originator getting compensation.
You doubt that?
Making a deal with TGE
is like making a deal with the devil. They will steal whatever technology they can.
Philips doubles up with new portable players
Thursday 18th March 2004
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=55121" target="_new">http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=55121
Philips has unveiled a new 1,000-song micro audio jukebox with built-in FM radio.
One of the gadgets to feature at this year's CeBit show in Hannover, the credit card-sized hdd070 (pictured, top) is 1.8cm thick and weighs 95g. The iPod-like device uses Philips' 'SuperScroll' system to browse through its music library.
Inside the magnesium casing is a 2GB hard disk, which should support the storage of around 1,000 WMA or 500 MP3 files. Its SuperPlay system enables the tag-based organisation of tracks, whether by artist, album, genre or specific tracks.
A USB 1.1 connection is used for file transfers, and there is also a built-in FM radio supporting 10 presets.
Available in May, the hdd070 has a suggested retail price of €249 (approximately £160).
The bigger brother of the hdd070, is the hdd120 (pictured, below). This comes with a 20GB hard disk for the storage of - approximately - 5000 MP3 songs or 10,000 WMA tracks. It uses a USB 2.0 connection.
An internal MP3 encoder also enables direct MP3 recording, whether from a microphone input for voice recording or analogue line-input and digital-optical line input for high-quality audio.
The hdd120 is available now with a suggested retail price of €399 (approximately £256).
OT Baby boomers? The real money propping us up is FOREIGN money. When that goes..the S=== hits the fan.
Feedback on the price "was rather neutral,"
Note: ON THE friggin PRICE was rather neutral
Jamaican Airways IFE is a huge blunt.....LOL eom
My guess is Aloha Airlines
They stretch the new 737 from mainland to Hawaii and beyond. Perfect for weight/fuel saving digEplayer. Also saves dollars compared to installed state of art IFE. They currently use drop down screens every three aisles for movie (no choice) as well as some music selections available on every seat. They are adding Washington DC to their routes, with hopes of expanding.....
http://www.alohaairlines.com/aq/flightroute_TP.shtml
Aloha Airlines (formerly Trans-Pacific Airlines 1946-1958)
TOTAL EMPLOYEES
3,459 as of July 31, 2003
OPERATING DATA
4.4 million revenue passengers enplaned in 2002
128.4 million freight pounds carried in 2002
Operating Fleet
10 Boeing 737-700s / 12 first class; 112 coach
10 Boeing 737-200s / 10-12 first class; 97-106 coach
4 Boeing 737-200QCs / 10 first class; 96-112 coach
Destinations Served:
Hawaii
Hilo, Hawaii
Honolulu, Oahu
Kahului, Maui
Kona, Hawaii
Lihue, Kauai
U.S Mainland
Burbank, California
Las Vegas, Nevada
Oakland, California
Orange County, California
Phoenix, Arizona
Reno, Nevada
Sacramento, California
Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia
Central / South Pacific
Christmas Island, Kiribati
Johnston Island
Majuro and Kwajalein, Marshall Islands
Pago Pago, American Samoa (Starting December 2003)
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
More 737 Info
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/b737/
727-200 Stretched model for up to 124 passengers; total of 1,095 built
Connexion by Boeing to Connect with T-Systems' WLAN Roaming Platform
BOEING NEWS RELEASE
Connexion by Boeing to Connect with T-Systems' WLAN Roaming Platform
Easy and Fast Internet Connection for Passengers In-flight
HANNOVER , Germany , March 16, 2004
T-Systems' carrier division, International Carrier Sales & Solutions (ICSS) and Connexion by BoeingSM , a business unit of the Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), today announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding to explore linking the Connexion by Boeing service to T-Systems' WLAN Roaming Platform.
By connecting to the platform, Connexion by Boeing would offer real-time access to the Internet and corporate intranets to airline travelers whose mobile service provider is also connected to T-Systems' WLAN Roaming Platform when they fly on airlines with the Connexion system onboard. This would provide existing T-Systems customers with streamlined billing, customer support and in-flight access to the Internet.
“With this solution, we open up our services to more potential customers and give corporate business travelers the opportunity to have high-speed Internet access in planes through their home provider,” explains David Friedman, vice president, Marketing and Corporate Sales, Connexion by Boeing.
T-Systems' WLAN Roaming Platform acts as a single interface from one connected provider to all of the other carriers and wireless ISPs connected to the platform. For the traveler or wireless Internet user, this means that if their provider is connected to the platform, they have the convenience of the post paid model rather than having to pay separately or buy vouchers for using services from other providers while flying.
“We see significant growth in the wireless market. Working with Connexion by Boeing, T-Systems will be able to provide seamless connectivity and extended reach for end-users of wireless providers offering hotspot services connected to our platform, on the ground and in the air,” outlines Frank Opfer, Vice President, ICSS Solutions Management, T-Systems. For those using hotspot services, this means easy and fast access through an existing account. For carriers and wireless ISPs who connect to the WLAN Roaming Platform, T-Systems' carrier services division, ICSS, provides clearing and settlement services, defines interface specifications and offers third-level support.
About Connexion by Boeing
Connexion by Boeing, recipient of the 2003 World Travel Award for World's Leading High-Speed In-flight Internet Services Provider, brings high-speed Internet, data and entertainment connectivity to travelers. Connexion by Boeing also offers a high-speed connectivity solution for the business aviation market, and has announced plans to enter the maritime market. Connexion by Boeing has definitive service agreements with Lufthansa German Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines System, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways to equip their long-haul aircraft with the service. In addition, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Kingdom Holding Co. have announced their intent to install the Connexion by Boeing system on their long-range aircraft. For information about the Connexion by Boeing service, please visit www.connexionbyboeing.com. For general information, visit www.boeing.com/connexion.
About T-Systems
T-Systems is one of Europe 's leading providers of information and communications technology (ICT). Within the Deutsche Telekom group, T-Systems is responsible for serving major business accounts. The company has some 41,000 staff on its payrolls in more than 20 countries. In 2003, the solutions provider generated €10.6 billion in sales.
T-Systems' solutions improve the business competitiveness of its customers in the industry sectors telecommunications, services and finance, public and healthcare as well as manufacturing. The company optimizes processes and cuts costs for its customers, thus providing them additional flexibility for their core business. T-Systems makes targeted use of industry expertise and cutting-edge technology. Its services range from the integration of new ICT solutions into existing customer systems, through the implementation and operation of desktop systems, data centers and networks, all the way to telecommunications services and solutions for international carriers.
T-Systems' services encompass all levels of the information and communications technology value chain, spanning from ICT infrastructure and ICT solutions, up to and including business process management.
For more information about the company and its services, see www.t-systems.com.
About T-Systems, International Carrier Sales & Solutions
Deutsche Telekom is Europe 's largest telecommunications company and one of the leading carriers worldwide - with operations in Europe , the Middle East and Asia , as well as North and South America . T-Systems ICSS is a full service provider, offering a complete range of wholesale products and services for mobile and fixed operators, and Internet Service Providers, who are looked after locally via a global sales network. The basis for ICSS' comprehensive Service Offering Portfolio (Voice, IP/Data, Customized Solutions, Bandwidth) is an expanding ultramodern infrastructure - the Telekom Global Net - which connects major international business centers.
Sony announces Euro digital music foray
By Macworld staff
A new player has entered the digital music distribution battleground that is Europe, Sony.
Sony announced plans to launch its Connect digital music store online in Europe in June at CeBit today.
The company will sell songs at 99 Euros with the service launching in France, Britain and Germany. Users will be able to play these songs on their computers, export them to Sony music players, and burn them to CDs (this feature is unlimited).
The company will launch its European service with 300,000 tracks from the five major labels, in addition to national and regional artists and independent label tracks.
Sony's European boss of network applications and content services Robert Ashcroft told Reuters: "There's been a sea change in the industry. All labels have been willing to discuss licensing their catalogue to as many credible platforms as possible. And Sony is a very credible platform."
HP to bundle iTunes by the end of March
By Macworld staff
HP is expected to begin bundling Apple's iTunes digital-jukebox software with its consumer machines by the end of March.
Metadata found in the source code of a page in the Music section of the HP site reads: "The iTunes icon will start shipping pre-loaded on Pavilion and Presario computers in late March and these pages will be the first landing site directed towards HP.com\music."
The metadata refers to the HP music pages as: "A set of online pages to direct consumers to the iTunes download and experience as a first phase in launching the HP iPod and iTunes suite of products and services."
A link on the HP music page points to a page on the Apple Web site that flags-up the HP version of the software download.
HP will also be releasing an own-branded iPod in the summer.
Fleet:
Southwest currently operates 388 Boeing 737 jets (as of December 31, 2003).
TYPE NUMBER SEATS
737-200 23 122
737-300 194 137
737-500 25 122
737-700* 146 137
SkyWay Communications Holding Corp. Announces Asset Acquisition of Transdigital Communications Corp.
CLEARWATER, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 03/16/2004 -- SkyWay Communications Holding Corp. (OTC BB: SWYC), and its wholly owned subsidiary, Sky Way Aircraft Inc, announced today the acquisition of selected assets from Transdigital Communications Corporation (TCC). The assets include manufacturing, distribution, patents, STC's and intellectual property of the industry's leading in-flight entertainment components Areis FX flight mapping system, Audio File multi-channel seat / cabin music system and Hydra Trac drop down LCD monitor system. The TCC products are currently installed on hundreds of aircrafts flown by major domestic and foreign commercial carriers. SkyWay plans to merge the TCC products into the SkyWay Media Server System, coupling it with the nationwide air to ground (ATG) 15 Mbps air network thus making Sky Way Aircraft the only complete in-flight entertainment (IFE) and security system integrated into existing domestic and foreign aircrafts.
Brent Kovar, President of SkyWay Communications Holding Corp., stated, "The TCC product line represents quality and dependability thus its excellent reputation in the airline industry. We are fortunate to have been able to acquire the TCC product line and are very excited about the integration powerhouse of the Sky Way Media Server System. It is my goal to make the Sky Way Aircraft system the most requested, useful and memorable IFE service in the skies."
About SkyWay Communications Holding Corporation (Sky Way Aircraft, Inc).
SkyWay Communications Holding Corporation (Sky Way Aircraft, Inc.) is a Clearwater, Florida based company that is developing a unique ground to air in-flight aircraft communication network that it anticipates will facilitate homeland security and in-flight entertainment. Sky Way Aircraft is focused on bringing to the market a network supporting aircraft-related service including anti-terrorism support, real time in-flight surveillance and monitoring, WIFI access to the Internet, telephone service and enhanced entertainment service for commercial and private aircraft throughout the United States. Based on the final upgrading of a previous airborne telephone and communications network, Sky Way Aircraft intends to provide broadband connectivity between the ground and in-flight aircraft throughout the U.S. using technology that provides a broadband high-speed data transmission. Sky Way Aircraft intends to be the communications solution for commercial and private aircraft owners wanting real time access to on-board security systems, aircraft health and welfare monitoring, avionics operations and for passengers wanting real time high-speed access to the Internet. The network will enable applications that can personalize the in-flight entertainment experience, provide real time access to flight management avionics with long-term data storage and also support for ground monitoring of in-flight surveillance systems that are being designed with the goal of enhancing current airline security standards.
Starbucks serves up latte, tunes
Coffee retailer will begin offering custom music service, with five-song CDs selling for $6.99.
March 16, 2004: 7:58 AM EST
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp. will unveil a new kind of coffee shop Tuesday, serving up custom music CDs along with foamy coffee drinks as it looks to keep cash registers humming.
Years of customer queries about the music piped into its ubiquitous coffee shops prompted Starbucks to look into a new revenue stream, which might also keep customers in its stores long enough to order another latte.
"We do see this as an add-on to the Starbucks experience, but we also think there is a real business here," said Don MacKinnon, Starbucks vice president for music and entertainment.
Starbucks already offers high-speed wireless Internet access, or "WiFi", in more than 2,700 cafes, helping keep its stores busy beyond the morning rush of caffeine addicts on their way to work.
Using a variety of computer gear and support provided by Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ: Research, Estimates), Starbucks customers will be able to record five songs for $6.99 -- about twice the price of a double-tall latte -- in about three minutes.
"The goal here is how does a customer get their music in about the same time as it takes to get a grande cappuccino," said Felice Swapp, director of strategic initiatives for HP.
Additional songs will go for 99 cents each, with up to 80 minutes of music on one CD. For now, customers can purchase only single tracks, but complete albums will ultimately be available.
The company has signed deals with most major record labels and many independent recording companies, MacKinnon said.
The first Starbucks music cafe, a former Hear Music store in Santa Monica, Calif., opens Tuesday on a promenade popular with tourists and locals just blocks from the Pacific Ocean.
Ten more stores will roll out in Starbucks' hometown of Seattle this spring, and Starbucks hopes to expand rapidly from there, possibly outside the United States.
MacKinnon declined to give specifics, but a recent BusinessWeek magazine article quoting MacKinnon and Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said the service would expand to 2,500 stores in two years.
Starbucks' worldwide chain now includes more than 7,600 cafes. Executives believe they can ultimately grow to more than 25,000.
"We are focused on Seattle right now, but we would love to see it everywhere," MacKinnon said.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP, which launched its "Big Bang 2" consumer push with more than 100 new products last August, is supplying 68 of its Tablet PCs, workstations and CD publishing and printing systems, along with its trademark printers, at the music cafe.
HP also designed the user interface and the software. The store uses HP's data storage gear and HP ProLiant servers store the more than 10,000 available albums and 100,000 song titles.
"We have done it in a way that a person will walk out of Starbucks with something that feels like they bought it at a store," Swapp said. "It's allowing your typical Uncle Bob to start getting into this digital mobile lifestyle."
New iPod strategy: sell more at little less profit
50 millionth song marks a milestone for iTunes
APPLE MAKES SLIM PROFIT ON MUSIC, CLEANS UP ON IPODS
By Jon Fortt
Mercury News
Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store has notched its 50 millionth song that customers paid to download from the Internet, opening distance between the company and its online music competitors.
Monday's announcement underscores a truth about today's paid music download market: Apple still rules. But the company said its iPod audio player is still the real moneymaker in its music strategy.
That's because, while Apple makes a thin profit percentage from 99-cent song sales, it gets a healthier boost selling iPods, which start at $249.
In the online music marketplace, iTunes store's closest competitor, Napster, has sold only about 5 million downloads -- though that does not include Napster's streaming music subscription service. And Apple's 50 million-song tally does not include songs Pepsi and Apple are giving away in their promotion together. Customers are now downloading at a rate of 2.5 million songs a week, or about 130 million a year.
Apple has about 70 percent of the market in paid song downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Rob Schoeben, Apple vice president of applications marketing, said he thinks Apple is doing even better at album downloads. ``We actually think that we're around 90 percent market share on albums,'' he said.
The numbers are big for online downloads, but they're peanuts for the recording industry at large. These days the recording industry sells about 750 million CDs each year according to the latest industry numbers, with multiple songs on each CD.
Even considering its early success in convincing people that an online download store can work, Apple faces challenges.
That's because for Apple, digital music downloads aren't an end in themselves -- they are a means to selling more iPods. Schoeben characterized the company's approach as ``iTunes plus iPod.'' The idea, Schoeben said, is that once people download songs from iTunes, they'll crave an iPod to carry the tunes around, because ``you can burn CDs, but who wants to use a CD player these days?''
In the coming months, Apple will begin to unfurl its strategy of making a little less profit on the average iPod, but selling a lot more of them. A Hewlett-Packard branded version of the iPod is due in a few weeks, and HP will pocket some of the profit from that version. The new iPod mini will bring Apple less profit per sale than previous iPod models, because its parts make up a larger portion of its $249 price tag.
Success for Apple will mean selling so many of the music players that the slimmer profits don't matter, and paying lower prices for the iPod's building blocks. Apple will begin to show success or failure in the spring.
So far, Apple has struggled to make enough iPod minis to meet demand, though that is common for a new product. And as for wrangling lower prices out of its parts suppliers -- Richard Doherty, director of research for Envisioneering Group, doesn't think that will be a problem for Apple's chief executive.
``There's the laws of economics and there's the laws of Steve Jobs negotiation,'' Doherty said. ``He has been known to get components at cost, or sometimes below cost.''
Southwest, with rivals circling, rethinks thrift
By Micheline Maynard
NEW YORK TIMES
Tue, Mar. 16, 2004
No-frills efficiency, cheap seats and a few laughs thrown in. That has always been the hallmark of Southwest Airlines, whose flight attendants still entertain passengers by telling jokes on board. For its first three decades, that formula propelled it to consistent profitability, even as bigger airlines stumbled and smaller ones sputtered and spun out of business.
But lately, the grins have begun to fade. The low-fare market Southwest once dominated has become mighty crowded, above and below the altitude where the airline flies, as more and more competitors take aim at passengers for whom thrift, not comfort, has become a primary concern.
A whole crop of low-fare airlines -- from JetBlue to Ted, which was started last month by United -- are offering cheap tickets as well as frills like trendy cocktails that are very un-Southwest. At the same time, traditional airlines are reducing fares and offering premiums to attract bargain-hunters. "Entire divisions of airlines have been amassed to do battle with Southwest," said Gary C. Kelly, its chief financial officer.
All of that is forcing Southwest to rethink. It is considering moves that might have been blasphemous at the company just a few years ago: adding frills like in-flight entertainment systems and expanding its fleet beyond its trusty Boeing 737 jets. Southwest executives say no firm decisions have been made, and they give every impression that life will fundamentally be the same at the airline known for its old mustard-and-ketchup-colored planes.
Even as it wrangles over contract issues with its flight attendants' union, Southwest says its secret weapon remains its affable employees -- and not just because they have become the stars of the reality TV show, "Airline," on the A&E cable channel. "There hasn't been a carrier that has been able to match our people in spirit and energy and enthusiasm over the long haul," said Southwest's president, Colleen C. Barrett.
Still, Barrett said, Southwest cannot become complacent if it wants to remain the low-fare leader. "We have had such a good successful run that I'm sure there are pockets of people out there who think we can't do any wrong," she said. The airline is both flattered and sobered by the low-fare invaders, added its chief executive, James F. Parker. "It's kind of like being the Super Bowl champion. It's hard to defend that title," Parker said.
In fact, Southwest is wading into what might be considered the equivalent of a playoff game. On May 9, it begins service from Philadelphia, the first city it has added to its routes since October 2001. The move is also Southwest's first into a city dominated by another airline since it started flights from Baltimore in 1993.
Then, as now, Southwest is encroaching on the turf of US Airways. Last time around, it muscled US Airways into a full-fledged retreat, leaving Southwest to dominate Baltimore service.
This time, it may not be so easy. US Airways, scrambling for its financial life, has vowed to fight back in what could be its last stand. A year after it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, US Airways is trying to persuade unions to give it a third round of contract concessions, so it can stave off Southwest and other low-fare rivals, and remake itself as a leaner airline.
US Airways accounts for 68 percent of flights from Philadelphia, one of its three hubs. As Southwest approaches, offering one-way fares as low as $29, US Airways is adding more flights to the cities that Southwest plans to serve from Philadelphia and is vowing to match its fares on routes where the two battle head to head.
Parker and his Southwest management team must now determine what the airline must add to keep passengers -- or if it needs to add anything at all. "I don't know where it will take us," Parker said.
For hints, he need look only at JetBlue, which has shaken the industry by stirring up a mix that includes low fares and in-flight entertainment systems, installed in the backs of seats, that allow passengers to watch television programs and listen to music. Thanks to JetBlue, in-flight systems have become the norm on its low-fare rivals, including Ted, started last month, and Song, the Delta Air Lines low-fare service that will celebrate its first birthday next month.
Each of those start-ups has gone further in the frills department than JetBlue, which still does not offer meals. On Song, passengers can buy a variety of snacks, including pricey chocolates from Dylan's Candy Bar, a New York shop. On Ted, there is even an official beer, Foster's Lager, and passengers can buy souvenirs like a stuffed bear named -- what else? -- Ted.
The newcomers have created an in-flight atmosphere far different from the frugal one at Southwest, where the only thing that passengers can bring home for their children is a bag of peanuts. Indeed, some industry analysts say Southwest could eschew the extras and remain its no-frills self, allowing its low-fare and traditional rivals to fight over the same middle ground. But if it guesses wrong, customers could defect and market share could fall.
Unlike some new entries in the low-fare field, which could create their approaches from scratch, Southwest would be layering any amenities over a structure whose foundation is frugality. In fact, Kelly argues that the airline can afford to adopt the extras, given its long string of profitable quarters. "We have the capital and infrastructure to be able to do any and all of those things if we chose to," he said.
Even as it decides its grand strategy, Southwest is already taking baby steps. Without fanfare, it recently began letting passengers check in for flights on its Web site and print their boarding passes, beginning at midnight on the day of their flights. That eliminated the need for travelers to arrive at the airport quite so early.
But it will never go the full route and assign seats, said Barrett, Southwest's president. That would lengthen the boarding process at an airline that prides itself on turning around planes quickly at its gates. Even 10 additional minutes, multiplied by all its aircraft, would be prohibitive, she said. "Most people can accept that -- and if they can't, they probably shouldn't be flying Southwest Airlines in the first place," she said.
Guinness record for Toshiba's tiny hard disk drive
16 Mar 2004 08:38
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp said on Tuesday that Guinness World Records had certified its stamp-sized hard disk drives (HDDs) as the smallest in the world.
The electronics conglomerate's 0.85-inch HDDs, unveiled in January, have storage capacity of up to four gigabytes and will be used in products such as cellphones and digital camcorders.
Toshiba, whose 1.8-inch HDDs are used in Apple Computer Inc's hot-selling iPod digital music players, for example, aims to start producing the 0.85-inch HDDs by the end of 2004.
"Toshiba's innovation means that I could soon hold more information in my watch than I could on my desktop computer just a few years ago," said David Hawksett, science and technology editor at Guinness World Records.
NETGEAR Builds Innovative Wireless MP3 Player Around ARM Powered SOC from Marvell
Tuesday March 16, 5:00 am ET
Wireless Digital Music Player for Home Stereos Contains Marvell Chip with ARM9 Family Processor Running ARM Decoder
CAMBRIDGE, England, March 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ARM (Nasdaq: ARMHY - News; LSE: ARM - News), the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions, today announced that the newly released MP101 Wireless Digital Music Player from NETGEAR Inc., is powered by the ARM9(TM) core family-based Marvell Libertas 88W8510H system-on-chip (SoC). ARM also announced that NETGEAR has licensed the ARM® MP3 Decoder software for use in the MP101 Wireless Digital Music Player.
The NETGEAR product connects to the user's home network via an antenna, and to any stereo system through standard audio input jacks, to play music stored on any computer in that network.
Among the key reasons the ARM Powered® Marvell SoC was chosen by NETGEAR was its combination of wireless and wired routing technology and support for the 802.11e standard, which guaranteed audio quality. The high-performance ARM9 family microprocessor enabled a flexible MAC (Media Access Controller) architecture, which ensured compliance with 802.11g, the standard for high-bandwidth transmission.
"In an increasingly demanding industry, being first to market with innovative products is critical to maintaining competitive advantage. Marvell and ARM made that happen," said David James, product line manager, NETGEAR. "ARM and Marvell not only had the proven technology we needed, they went the extra mile to test the MP3 decoder running on the embedded ARM9 family core. All of this significantly reduced our risk."
"The ARM9 family easily met the performance needs of our Libertas SoC, particularly for the MAC architecture," said Paramesh Gopi, director of New Technologies, Marvell Technology Group. "Marvell's cutting edge RF and SoC technologies combined with the ARM9 processor family far exceed the current requirements of the consumer electronics market."
"NETGEAR is a worldwide provider of networking products, and the Wireless Digital Music Player is a natural extension of their core competency," said Eric Fujishin, worldwide networking segment manager, ARM. "SOHO networking electronics continue to be significant market drivers, and our valuable relationships with Marvell and NETGEAR strengthen our presence in the consumer networking electronics market."
About ARM
ARM is the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions. The company licenses its high-performance, low-cost, power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals, and system-chip designs to leading international electronics companies. ARM also provides comprehensive support required in developing a complete system. ARM's microprocessor cores are rapidly becoming a volume RISC standard in such markets as portable communications, hand-held computing, multimedia digital consumer and embedded solutions. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com .
NOTE: ARM and ARM Powered are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. ARM9 is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; and ARM Belgium N.V.
ARM
Michelle Spencer
Tel: +44 1628 427780
Email: michelle.spencer@arm.com
Matthew Rodriguez
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Tel: 415-593-8479
Email: mrodriguez@text100.com
Low-fare Air Service Boosts Digital In-flight Entertainment Options
By Paul Chambers
March 16— Imagine you're at the airport. A big news story is about to come on the television at the gate when an announcement is made: It's the final boarding call for your flight.
You'll miss out on the big news during your flight — unless you're flying Song airways, the new value carrier launched by Delta Air Lines last year. Although its passengers might be attracted to the company's low airfares, Song is hoping its new high-tech in-flight digital entertainment options will keep customers humming a happy tune.
"My own personal monitor — I can't wait to try and see what I can do," says Sharayla Cleare, a passenger on a Song flight from New York to Atlanta. "I was totally blown away. And all the choices are amazing."
Not Your Father's Air Carrier
From the moment you step on board, you know this isn't an ordinary airplane. Song's vibrant colors — orange, yellow, blue, and green — pop off the walls and seats. Each of the 199 seats on board Song's Boeing 757s has its own custom screen for the passenger's viewing pleasure, with an added bonus.
"Each individual screen is its own CPU, in essence. Each individual screen has its own IP address. We're able to individually address the seats," says Brian Kirby, lead engineer for cabin electrical at Delta and Song.
"It's a very unique, distinctive brand, a low-fare service … Putting the televisions on the aircraft gives passengers a wide array of choices," adds Joanne Smith, vice president of marketing for Song.
Choices? That's an understatement. By the end of March all of Song's 36 planes will be fitted with a complete digital in-flight entertainment system full of games, movies, television, and digital music.
Song's launch and in-flight offerings up the ante in the battle for travelers. Carriers such as JetBlue also offer video from DirecTV in every seat. JetBlue is also adding XM Satellite radio to its planes in 2004/2005.
Television, MP3s, and Games
Once the plane takes off, you're treated to 24 satellite television channels provided by Dish Network.
"Actually, I saw a new channel I hadn't heard of called Fuse. I watched a little bit of Court TV and the detective stuff, so that was really interesting. And I checked out some Animal Planet," passenger Cleare says.
"We serve everything from TechTV to Cartoon Network to ESPN, so we really have something for everyone," Smith says.
The in-flight entertainment doesn't stop there. Passengers also get to choose from 24 different digital music channels, with at least 30 songs in each. According to Smith there's more to come.
According to Song, in June it will upgrade the system further to allow passengers to create their own playlists for their MP3 player.
If listening to your favorite song isn't enough, there's an onboard music trivia game where you can challenge other passengers. Movies are coming soon and are the only extras passengers will have to pay for. Song's other entertainment items are included in the price of a ticket.
Upgraded Airplanes, Upgraded Comfort
Less than a year ago Song's entertainment offerings weren't possible because of the aging infrastructure of Delta's 757s. But when Song first hit runways in April 2003, it began a series of renovations to support its in-flight entertainment system.
"In phase one we actually stripped out almost all of the interior in order to put the new colors in the aircraft [and] to put the new materials in the aircraft, and we had all the ceiling panels down and the sidewalk panels out, [so] we were able to basically install the backbone that forms the heart of the system," Kirby says.
But when it's all said and done, the happiness of the passenger is what's most important.
"By choosing to go with a digital system instead of analog, it gave us so much more opportunity to give customers choice," Smith says.
"Yeah, it really helps out," passenger Scott Guidroz says of the entertainment system. "It makes the flight much shorter … having choices and having the Dish Network while you're flying."
And if all that playing, watching, and listening makes you hungry, Song's got an answer.
"We have choice of fresh, organic meals and indulgent snacks and martinis shaken on board," Smith says. "We've been really thoughtful about our approach."
If the actual approach to landing is half as good as the onboard service, Song should be a hit with travelers.
Europe's leader for cheap seats trims restrooms
Airline offers no-frills flight
( Repost but still LOL)
Europe's leader for cheap seats trims restrooms
Thomas Wagner
Associated Press
February 26, 2004 — 5:40 a.m.
LONDON — You got a cheap airline ticket, what else do you want?
Ryanair, Europe's most successful budget airline, is testing the Spartan spirit of its passengers and extending the frontiers of cost-cutting.
It recently announced it will dispense with the plane's window blinds, reclining seats, Velcro-anchored headrest covers and the seat pockets where customers normally find a safety notice and free magazines. The required safety notice will be stitched to the back of each seat.
Ryanair also said it may charge for checked-in luggage, and is switching to leather upholstery because it lasts longer and is easier and cheaper to clean.
Removing such "nonessential extras" from its new Boeing 737s will save Ryanair hundreds of thousands of dollars per plane in the purchase price and the maintenance normally required on broken reclining seats, said Paul Fitzsimmons, the airline's chief spokesman. The goal, he said, is to pass the savings on to its customers.
No matter what carrier you choose, many of the cabin features are set by regulations covering seat belts, environmental-control systems, lighting and the number of doors. Beyond that, an airline is free to decide what amenities, if any, you'll get on board, including toilets, closets and in-flight entertainment.
Theoretically, an airline could abolish toilets and free drinking water on its short flights — and Ryanair's main competitor in Europe, easyJet, has reduced the number of toilets on its Boeing 737s from three to two, adding another revenue-earning seat.
Toby Nicol, the head of corporate affairs at easyJet, said no one had complained.
"If you don't serve free food on board or show films, you don't have a rush to the toilets with lines outside, on normal flights," Nicol said in an interview, "that happens after dinner and when the film ends."
Another reason customers of easyJet and Ryanair aren't likely to miss these amenities is that flights by no-frill carriers in Europe often average about an hour, with the longest being about two-and-a-half hours.
In the United States, where average flight times are longer, budget carriers are headed in the opposite direction. Fast-growing JetBlue Airways set the standard, analysts said, by offering cheap fares as well as leather seats, TVs for every passenger and extra legroom.
Delta Air Lines is mimicking that strategy by making satellite TV and video games available on its lower-cost subsidiary, Song.
"In this country, JetBlue has set the pace," said Michael Boyd of the Boyd Group, an aviation consulting firm in Evergreen, Colo. "You better be giving more for less."
Ryanair offers its customers no assigned seats, no free food or drinks, no frequent-flier miles and no help with connecting flights. It flies to secondary airports, has strict baggage weight limits, issues most tickets over the Internet and doesn't use enclosed ramps to take its customers from terminals to airplanes.
Airline analysts said they would be surprised if Ryanair's latest cutbacks cause much griping by customers, who relish the cheap tickets. Given how close the seats already are on most cut-rate airlines, some analysts said tall people could be overjoyed to learn that the person sitting in front won't be crunching their knees with a reclining seat.
Boyd said Ryanair and EasyJet should be praised for shedding services that planes don't really need, especially on the short flights they specialize in.
"Reclining seats aren't a big deal. People won't notice the missing curtain. The seat pockets often are mostly used by customers as garbage cans," he said.
"I even applaud only two toilets," said Boyd, adding that he wouldn't object if budget airlines began using pay toilets.
Ryanair "is going further than other carriers in Europe have done in taking away the comfort enhancers," said Simon Evans, chief executive of Britain's consumer watchdog for air passengers, the Air Transport Users Council.
"Ryanair has never made any secret of its cost-cutting goals. They say they have given consumers the cheapest possible air traffic, and it's hard to argue with them, given their numbers. They are pushing the boundaries of minimum levels of service. It will be interesting to see how much consumers put up with that," said Evans.
Michael Clarke, an aviation reporter for Travel Weekly in London, said Ryanair may have had little choice but to cut more frills, given two recent setbacks: the European Commission ruled that payments to the airline by government-owned airports were illegal, and the airline fell short of its passenger growth targets.
"Ryanair need to do this. Their whole business model is based on low prices, cutting them below everyone else's," he said. "Their philosophy is: 'What do you expect for a 10 pound ($18.70) fare?'"
All three analysts said it could be risky if Ryanair angered customers by charging for carry-on luggage since the expanding cut-rate airline market is getting more competitive.
"You've got to be careful," said Boyd. "Everyone has the highest respect for Ryanair. I applaud it. But you've got to watch your competitors when you reduce your services."
What storage problems? Talk about rumors being believed as facts and spread like manure. You should know better
Equator Offers Lowest Cost per GOPS of Video Performance
Dated: Monday, March 15 2004 @ 08:21 AM PST
CAMPBELL, Calif. -- Equator Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance, programmable and power-efficient system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors for video streaming and image processing applications, today announced the immediate availability of the BSP-15-D1 device, the lowest cost member in the BSP-15 chip family.
Priced at $19 for consumer volume deployment, the new device delivers the most video performance at the lowest price for multi-format consumer video appliances. The new BSP-15-D1 device provides the most price/performance value for video-over-IP applications based on Windows Media 9 Series at Main Profile.
"The BSP-15 processor family has long been recognized as the leader in performance and programmability for consumer video devices. With the introduction of the BSP-15-D1 device, we are opening new market opportunities for our customers with the maturity, performance and programmability of our BSP-15 product that supports Windows Media 9 Series," said Rich Christopher, president and CEO of Equator Technologies. "We're very proud to offer this lower cost to our customer for volume production."
"Equator is providing a low-cost solution with the new BSP-15-D1 device and delivering great video performance through the support of Windows Media 9 Series" said Jason Reindorp, group product manager, Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft Corp. Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft Corp. "This new lower-cost BSP-15-D1 part will accelerate volume deployment of exciting new consumer devices."
"With the performance and programmability advantage, Equator is one of the first companies to really address the cost issue in media processing for consumer electronics applications without compromising video quality," said Jason Blackwell, director of end market analysis for Semico Research Corp. "The versatile BSP-15-D1 platform meets a market need in terms of high-quality, low-cost, making it the best solution in terms of overall value in the media processor space today."
The new device targets the high-performance, multi-format streaming video market as well as low-bit-rate recording applications. It provides D1 (720x480) resolution decoding at 30 frames per second for most popular media formats used for film, on-demand services and Internet video. Supported video formats include Windows Media 9 Series at Main Profile/Main Level, MPEG-2 Main Profile at Main Level, MPEG-4 Simple Profile and Advanced Simple Profile decoding, along with MP3, JPEG digital photo album and more.
The device is 100 percent C/C++ programmable and capable of supporting high-quality playback of media in DivX®, RealVideo® 9, RealVideo®10, H.264 and VP4™, VP5™, VP6™ formats. For digital video recorder applications, the device utilizes low-bit-rate compression algorithms such as the Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series to extend recording time to two hours on a CD-ROM or over 13 hours on a DVD disk.
The BSP-15-D1 device is more than a conventional general-purpose microprocessor or DSP; it is a complete SoC for video-centric and image processing applications. In addition to running video and image processing algorithms, the BSP-15 processor can also run Linux, networking stacks, video-on-demand and interactive TV middleware, virtual machines for Java™ and Internet browsers, meeting all the system software needs of today's media applications without the need for an additional microprocessor. With a rich set of on-chip I/O, the BSP-15 video-centric SoC also minimizes the need for external components, allowing OEMs to save further on system cost.
Pricing and Availability
BSP-15-D1 is immediately available for volume production. Pricing starts at $19 for high volume qualified customers. iMMediaTools® Software Development Toolkit, media libraries and development systems
More information about Equator is available online at www.equator.com.