Two noteworthy stories have been published this week about Wi-Fi Internet service for airplane passengers.
Today’s Chicago Tribune story looks at how Boeing’s failed Connexion project made it possible for Aircell to make good on its Gogo service.
Boeing dropped its Connexion venture in 2006, taking a $320 million pre-tax write-down. As the Tribune story notes, many U.S. carriers, which initially invested with Boeing in Connexion, bailed on the service after Sept. 11, 2001.
Aircell, however, stayed in the game and caught some lucky breaks. Today, U.S. carriers like United, American, AirTran and Delta have signed up for Aircell’s service.
Tribune’s key quotes from Aircell’s chief executive Jack Blumenstein:
“Every trend on the ground has gone in the direction of people making what we wanted to do less expensive,” Blumenstein said.
“Boeing suffered the fate of what happens to pioneers a lot of times who are a bit too early or a bit too far ahead of the technology curve,” Blumenstein added.
Yesterday, The New York Times wrote about the popularity of Aircell’s Wi-Fi service.
The story emphasizes just how lucky Aircell was. Business travelers, once thought to be the major in-flight Wi-Fi market, might not be willing to pay additional fees for in-flight Wi-Fi. And laptop users, the initial target users, often find in-flight laptop use too uncomfortable to be practical.
The real market for in-flight Wi-Fi? Smartphone users.
NYT’s key quote from Aircell’s Blumenstein:
“When we started out to build our network two summers ago, there was not a single smartphone with a Wi-Fi chip in it, not a single BlackBerry with a Wi-Fi chip. Now, if you look at the industry data, about 90 percent of all hand-held devices going out in the next five years are going to have Wi-Fi chips,” Mr. Blumenstein said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
