Nearly every single one of us carries a wireless device with them onto the airplane. Since most of the airlines started introducing Wifi on board and during the flight – the next step is to stream the inflight entertainment via wifi and drop the expensive and not really high quality seat screens.Delta , United, and Southwest introduced the new plan called “Bring your own device”.
Did you know that every screen per seat weights 5kg which on a 250 seats plane adds up to 1,250 kg. By dropping them from the aircraft might add up 80,000 kg of fuel being saved per year per aircraft.
This could not only effect positively the environment but probably cost of our plane tickets as well.
Apart from those effects it could have effect on possible future ventures with electronics companies because currently the installation cost per screen can reach up to 10,000 dollars. With this kind of cost there is incentive not only to deliver best technology, but the switching cost to deliver new technology is way lower then the current cost of the entertainment screens.
The view of every airline is different so we can expect certain strategy game to evolve.
But lets get to the social media point of view. According to report by Osurv, a mobile survey firm, found that 87 percent of travelers consider the bring your device pitch a cost-saving effort by airlines—and yet many still prefer using their own gadgets to jabbing a seat-back screen. “Superficially, BYOD is a cost-cutting initiative,” says Jad Meouchy, Osurv’s founder and chief executive. “However, the long-term vision is Netflix in the sky.”
This new business opportunity gives space to new companies coming up with ideas how to refresh the airplane entertainment. Maybe its going to be Facebook who will take over this new big venture. The wifi on board is very big opportunity for social media to gain there power in this industry. Competitions, posts, engagement of customer, entertaining the customer, engaging the customer into the service improvement – who knows, maybe one day we will check in through our social networks.
Would you welcome this change on planes or would you rather stay with the old screen aircraft entertainment? Do you see any dangers in introducing bring your own device, wifi onboard and social media?
Reference:
http://www.klm.com/travel/gb_en/prepare_for_travel/on_board/entertainment/index.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-03/byod-airlines-need-your-carry-on-gadgets-to-end-seat-back-screens
I would certainly welcome this change on planes. I flew with Transavia this year and their old screens with their terrible resolutions and minimal size are painful to watch. It wasn’t even possible to choose what to watch and I ended up watching a animated child movie. That’s why I don’t see this change as a cost saving initative. Everyone now adays got a laptop, tablet or phone in the plane with a much better screen and it’s possible to choose your own movie.
Wifi onboard is in my opinion necessary, especially for bussiness people. They need to check their e-mails often and this is’nt possible when you’re on flight mode. Social media can be a possitive thing if the flight company use it wisely. But I’m afraid they use it just to spam you with lots of commercial stuff.
Lastly, I agree with the article, Netflix onboard would be awesome!