After Boeing beat Airbus with Internet service in the sky, Team Toulouse plans to counter with technology that will allow passengers to use their cell phones to make calls from the sky, according to several reports from Europe this morning.
Key Quote (from Reuters via CNN International): “‘Being able to use their mobile phones onboard aircraft has long been the wish of many passengers who often travel on business flights,’ said Christoph Caselitz, the president of Siemens’ mobile networks division, in a statement. ‘The partnership between Siemens and Airbus will ensure that this modern service is up and running soon and will open up new sources of revenue for the airlines.’”
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/07/11/bt.inflight.mobile.reut/
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/11/business/ttk.php
http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/112005417.htm
Not sure how I feel about cell phones in the sky, to be honest. Guess it couldn’t be worse than cell phones on the highway…
Meanwhile, Connexion by Boeing, in case you haven’t heard, is planning a big PR splash next week, inviting a bunch of hip, cool blogger types on a roundtrip demonstration flight from Seattle to Walla Walla, Wash. (They’ve also invited a couple of traditional media fossils, like me.) We’re supposed to get a briefing from new Connexions chief Laurette Kohlner and her top people on new directions for Connexion. That could include, from what I gather, a discussion of Boeing’s corporate blog strategy.
Boeing’s calling this event “Blogging the Stratosphere,” which is almost enough to make one airsick … but it’s getting big buzz in the blogging community. I’m going, and I’ll let you guys know what I hear.
Here’s a link to the “stratoblog” Web site:
http://www.blogbusinesssummit.com/stratoblog/
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
