tag:,2008:/1/tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379- 2008-08-07T04:47:11Z Comments for Internet to Invade the Airways Movable Type 4.1 tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379 2007-12-07T15:58:23Z 2007-12-16T23:08:35Z Internet to Invade the Airways The New York Times reports today that starting next week United Airlines will begin to roll out tests of a new Internet service on its planes. On Tuesday, JetBlue will begin offering free email and instant messaging service on one of its planes, and American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines have plans to offer... Josh Catone http://www.readwriteweb.com/ The New York Times reports today that starting next week United Airlines will begin to roll out tests of a new Internet service on its planes. On Tuesday, JetBlue will begin offering free email and instant messaging service on one of its planes, and American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines have plans to offer full fledged Internet service for about $10 per flight. (CrunchGear reports that American Airlines' program will be free.)

Though Internet service will still not be available during take off and landing (you know, when you can't use your laptop), once at cruising altitude getting online while enroute will eventually become the norm on plane flights. "In a few years time, if you get on a flight that doesn’t have Internet access, it will be like walking into a hotel room that doesn’t have TV," Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research told the Times.

]]> For many casual travelers, getting online during flight will fall into two categories: "Who cares?" (for those who don't bring their laptops with them on flights and would rather read a book or magazine) and "That's kind of cool, I guess" (for those who might like to play a couple of rounds of Scrabulous or Desktop Tower Defense to pass the time). But for many business travelers, being able to stay connected in flight is a blessing -- or a curse.

Obviously, for many business people, being able to stay connected with the office will be a huge time saver. Being online while flying will let them save time and get work done that they could only get accomplished with an Internet connection. But I know many frequent business travelers who view their disconnected time in the air as a mini-vacation. A way to either relax and catch up on reading, or get work done without the distraction of the Internet -- i.e., catch up on emails without more flooding in, or get some writing done in a distraction free environment, etc.

What do you think? Are you excited at the prospect of logging on while in the air or are you bummed that the Internet is about to permeate one more aspect of your life?

]]> tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27858 Comment from Jeremy Crane on 2007-12-07 Jeremy Crane http://blog.compete.com Netflix streaming video + inflight wifi = significantly more enjoyable twice a month coast to coast flights

Hopefully more flights will get AC power connections or this will all be a moot point.

]]> 2007-12-07T16:10:09Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27859 Comment from kiskav on 2007-12-07 kiskav http://www.kiskav.com I do not think that is a good regular Internet

]]> 2007-12-07T16:20:50Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27860 Comment from Ted Ernst on 2007-12-07 Ted Ernst http://AboutUs.org/TedErnst.info kiskav, You're making the wrong comparison. The choice is not "regular internet vs. airplane internet". The choice is "no internet vs. airplane internet". I choose airplane internet, with AC connection, of course. :-)

]]> 2007-12-07T16:54:52Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27861 Comment from Anne Helmond on 2007-12-07 Anne Helmond http://www.annehelmond.nl I'd be more than happy to pay $10 which would amount to only $1.30 an hour in my case (Amsterdam - New York). Although I must admit I get a fair amount of reading done in the plane. And the seats don't feel that laptop friendly either.

]]> 2007-12-07T17:05:04Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27862 Comment from Peat Bakke on 2007-12-07 Peat Bakke http://peat.org/ I think it's great. Lufthansa previously offered wifi on some of their international flights, and it was a great way to kill time. So long as the airline provides power at every seat (not just business class), I think it's a great idea. :)

]]> 2007-12-07T18:10:14Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27863 Comment from ses5909 on 2007-12-07 ses5909 http://www.theblogexperiment.com/blog-forum/ This would seriously rock... especially for when i make my move back to the states in a few months! oh yeahhhhh

]]> 2007-12-07T19:03:24Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27864 Comment from James Dellow on 2007-12-07 James Dellow http://chieftech.blogspot.com Shouldn't your post title be "Internet to Invade the Airways , Again". I hope they have more luck than Boeing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion_by_Boeing
And its not just in the US either, Australian carrier Qantas is also planning to offer Internet access in its 20 new A380 planes from late next year:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/qantas-to-offer-inflight-web-access/2007/07/24/1185043102717.html
"Qantas says its new Airbus A380 planes will offer passengers both wireless internet access and laptop power sockets in every seat, including economy. USB ports, also built into every seat, will potentially allow passengers to access multimedia content from music players and portable hard drives through the seat-back screens."

]]> 2007-12-07T23:09:04Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27865 Comment from Alex Iskold on 2007-12-08 Alex Iskold http://htt://www.adaptiveblue.com Goodbye offline mode and a whole slew of "offline" tools.

Alex

]]> 2007-12-08T14:51:12Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27866 Comment from Tim Peter on 2007-12-08 Tim Peter http://www.timpeter.com/blog/ As much as I welcome the concept of "always available internet," I don't relish the thought of "always available employment." On international flights, I enjoy the time to catch up on reading, on work and on uninterrupted sleep. Even domestically, I blow through a great deal of reading/work without worrying about IM's, emails and phone calls from my employees and peers. Plus, I think my team benefits from having to figure things out on their own when I'm unavailable. Will this ultimately limit the independence/growth opportunities for my directs if they know I'm a quick IM away?

The worst part is, I'll probably use it. Damn.

]]> 2007-12-08T18:46:38Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27867 Comment from Dan Rogers on 2007-12-10 Dan Rogers http://www.goforads.com How would you avail these services? On their screens or laptop? If they are going to provide wifi for laptops they must consider giving charging points too for long haul flights. The laptop goes off in 3 hours.

]]> 2007-12-10T11:38:41Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.3379-comment:27868 Comment from Joseph Pally on 2007-12-10 Joseph Pally http://www.zcubes.com
Wonder how this development will affect companies like Etelos which has been centered around their heavily advertised "Apps on a plane" concept.

Ubiquitous connectivity is one of the fundamental assumptions of the next generation of Internet. Glad to see planes are connected.

We can guess the next is going to be connectivity in all cars, and all cell phones. I just hope the mobile industry works hard on providing better bandwidth and powerful interfaces - rather than reducing applications into primitive interfaces on devices of limited capability. In April Nokia had started to put Javascript on some of the phones. Hope the trend stays.

By the middle of next year, IPhones will not be the fanciest phones.

]]> 2007-12-10T14:36:05Z