Today’s Hot Topic should really be titled “Bluetooth v3.0″ but, to put the ongoing hardware convergence into perspective, we need to look at one concept driving PEDS, or in other terminology, Mobile Phones and Mobile Internet Devices (MID’s). And don’t worry, we have Inflight Entertainment impact…but we will get to that later.

The CS-LL concept can be described as the next movement in the mobile chip world who’s goal is to increase the “gozinta’s” and “gozouta’s” of mobile devices. As we rely more on portable electronics as our go-to device, the ability to interface with new sources such as cameras, Internet, DVD Players, iPODs, keyboards, mice, etc. and new output devices and locations like LCD screens, MP3 players, Internet, etc, your mobile device needs new connections at higher speeds, utilizing less power. Frankly, so does anything working with, talking to, and generally involved with IFE.

Remember the concept of hardware convergence in the first paragraph? Well the latest specification divulged by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group meeting, v3.0, really ramps up the possibility of much higher data rates…up to 24 Mbps! The new Protocol Adaption Layer mimics the 802.11 specifications and with 2 radios (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), the latest Broadcom devices allow bifurcated data channels that let the low speed information move thru Bluetooth connections and the high bandwidth content fly down the Wi-Fi highway. What once was 3 Mbps (v2.1) is now 24 Mbps, and by using the Wi-Fi protocols, better battery efficiency is an additional benefit.

Now, the IFE connection! Bluetooth v3.0 at 24 Mbps would have some potential for data loading. Assume that a 2-hour movie in H.264 or WMV might require 1.2 to 1.5GB of storage, so you can calculate the loading time based on the Bluetooth 3.0 level of deployment. With built in Wi-Fi protocols, one can imagine the flexibility of offering a data loader that operated in wired and/or wireless modes that could be offered as “one size fits all”…it adapts itself to the loading interface.

But the real interesting application is the one using your Bluetooth v3.0 MID on an airplane. That story has already been written and you can view that application in our premier edition of the IFExpress Special Edition – link below. Further, we really got interested in the cabin potential for this new version of Bluetooth after we wrote the story. So, we contacted Ron Chapman, the Australian IFE developer featured in the Special Edition about his expectations and view of Bluetooth in the cabin.

Ron told IFExpress, “The next generation 3.0 phone becomes your inflight video screen, particularly for those regional airlines that cannot afford to install the inseat or overhead IFE. Think of the weight, power, fuel, and cost savings! Safecell airlines will provide the very first step in this direction with some content capability. Both broadcast and individual download. Yes I know it’s a small screen but look at the Nintendo DS, where will it go with Bluetooth v3.0? When we created the Safecell concept in July 2006, I was of the opinion that if your cell phone can replace your camera and MP3, player then it will replace your DVD player – you don’t need to be Einstien to work that one out. So now, it looks like it can happen. With the amount content today’s generation handles and the integration of Bluetooth v3.0 into TV’s, all the IFE manufacturer needs to do is implement a short range low power chip in each screen/seat. Passenegers could then carry on thier own content and watch on the inseat screen (or vise versa) and no more cables to plug in. Obviously battery life is key, but at the moment phones are as good a DVD player and better than laptops on battery.”

• Kevin Kahn on Redefining Mobility: Carry Small, Live Large
• New Bluetooth 3.0 specification approved
• Bluetooth 3.0 arrives with promise of eightfold speed increase
• Wikipedia: Bluetooth
• IFExpress Special Edition: ASI SafeCell

31 March, 2009 – Passengers on Malaysia Airlines are proving some of the world’s most enthusiastic users of in-flight mobiles as they embrace the award-winning AeroMobile service.

The rapid take-up has taken place since Malaysia Airlines launched the service last November, with customers taking advantage of keenly-priced calls, text messages and data services. The in-flight service is available to many destinations across Europe, Australia and the Asian region, including China and Japan. On some flights, passenger adoption has exceeded 40%.

Data devices such as Blackberry are proving popular, with data traffic on some flights exceeding 2MB, the equivalent of 40 Blackberry users sending and receiving email.

The service has benefited from collaborative marketing initiatives with leading telecoms providers in Malaysia, many launching with highly competitive pricing. As an introductory rate, a leading Malaysian Telco is charging just 0.99RM (circa. 19p) per text message. Receiving text messages is free of charge. These rates are comparable to global terrestrial cellular roaming rates.

Malaysia Airlines’ Commercial Director Dato’ Rashid Khan said: “We are delighted with passenger feedback from AeroMobile’s ongoing marketing initiatives. In line with our aim to become the World’s Five Star Value Carrier we are committed to delivering unrivalled levels of service to our passengers.

“Our cabin crew is trained to provide guidance to passengers on the usage of inflight mobile devices while maintaining privacy and comfort for all other passengers. This includes ensuring mobile phones are switched to silent mode during flights.

“I believe this has contributed to the overall positive customer experience on this service,” he said.

Bjorn-Taale Sandberg, Chief Executive Officer of AeroMobile, said: “High awareness amongst passengers, competitive pricing and a reliable platform has seen our service with Malaysia Airlines reach new heights.

“Customer feedback has been very positive. The imaginative pricing, with texts for as little as 0.99RM as an introductory offer, has really driven up usage. As we expected, data and SMS usage has been prolific, demonstrating clear passenger demand.

“We are also very well placed to upgrade our capability with Malaysia Airlines as, uniquely, the Honeywell avionics are already in place on their fleet to enable future Inmarsat SwiftBroadband upgrades later this year”.

The first Malaysia Airlines B777-200 was installed with the light weight AeroMobile system during a routine maintenance check.

About AeroMobile

AeroMobile Limited is a UK-based company which is majority owned by Telenor ASA. Since 2003, it has been pursuing the objective of developing the safe use of passengers own mobile phones and PDAs in response to market demands.

AeroMobile is the first in-flight mobile technology to be commercially available and first flew in June 2005 on Boeing’s 777-200LR ‘Worldliner’ demonstrator aircraft. It was subsequently trialled with Qantas on over 1,000 domestic Australian flights in 2007, when GSM text messaging and GPRS data services were offered to its passengers.

In March 2008, the AeroMobile system made possible the first authorised in-flight calls on a commercial flight with launch customer Emirates. Since that time, over 160,000 Emirates passengers have used AeroMobile, and it is now available on 32 aircraft – a quarter of the airline’s fleet.

AeroMobile is also in service with Malaysian Airlines, and will be rolled out on V Australia aircraft later this year.

AeroMobile is teamed with Panasonic Avionics Corporation, the Panasonic’s market-leading in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems provider, to offer the AeroMobile aircraft technology under the eXPhone brand as an integral part of Panasonic’s IFE systems. The AeroMobile system uses existing Inmarsat satellite communications systems installed on commercial aircraft, and these will be upgraded at the earliest opportunity to Inmarsat’s latest SwiftBroadband service providing further features and capabilities such as GPRS mobile data services

In September 2008, AeroMobile won the “Best Achievement in Technology 2008” award from the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA).

More information may be found at www.aeromobile.net

Geneva, Switzerland, 30 March 2009 – OnAir today announced its 10,000th flight with the Mobile OnAir inflight connectivity service in commercial operation, making OnAir the clear leader in onboard connectivity both in terms of number of flights and airline customers. The milestone underlines the speed with which OnAir services are becoming commonplace onboard aircraft: the number of flights with the service is set to exceed 100,000 before the end of the year.

The 10,000th flight itself was a TAP flight from Lisbon to Munich. Since December 2007, Mobile OnAir services have been used on flights to 162 cities in 34 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Mobile OnAir uses the industry’s most advanced and extensive infrastructure for mobile communications, along with Inmarsat SwiftBroadband. OnAir is the only connectivity provider operating flights which use the latest generation of Inmarsat’s I4 satellites. This gives passengers and airlines the best reach and performance available today for both voice and data.

Feedback from passengers and airlines underlines the growing popularity of the service thanks to its availability and ease of use – passengers use their mobile phones or BlackBerry-type devices just as they would on the ground.

Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir, commented: “This is a significant milestone and underlines how quickly our operations are expanding across a variety of markets. The feedback from inflight experience shows that phone use inside aircraft does not create any discomfort to passengers -
we have not heard of one single complaint. In addition, we are seeing a host of new applications which will deliver additional services.”

Confirmed demand for inflight passenger communications is reflected in the growing number of commercial airlines and private aviation companies which either currently offer OnAir inflight communications services or will offer them in the near future. This includes airlines such as AirAsia, AirAsia X, Airblue, British Airways, bmi, Jazeera, Kingfisher, Oman Air, Qantas, Royal Jordanian, Ryanair, Shenzhen Airlines, TAM, TAP and Wataniya Airways. In addition, OnAir is negotiating agreements with a number of major airlines which will be announced during the course of 2009.

OnAir also serves private VIP and Governmental customers through partnerships with Airbus Corporate Jets, Aviation Centre Cologne and Jet Aviation.

According to a recent passenger survey, 80% of passengers who have used Mobile OnAir services on selected flights would like these services to be available on every flight.

About OnAir

OnAir is the leading provider of inflight communications, enabling passengers to stay connected during their flight, and airlines to offer new services and generate additional revenues. Present on four of five continents, OnAir provides the only air-travel industry sponsored solution, now available to regular and low-cost airlines, to private and corporate jets, on Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and on long and short-haul flights. OnAir is the only provider of services based on SwiftBroadband, the latest high-bandwidth satellite technology from Inmarsat, which offers GSM and GPRS for voice, data and Internet.

OnAir was incorporated in February 2005 and is owned by SITA, the leading IT solutions provider to the air transport world and Airbus, the leading aircraft manufacturer. OnAir is a member of the GSM Association and an Inmarsat Distribution Partner for SwiftBroadband services.

More information about OnAir is available at: www.onair.aero

Friday, March 20, 2009 – Cutting-edge communications for Emirates passengers reached a new milestone today with the first birthday of its world-beating in-flight mobile service with AeroMobile.

History was made a year ago today when the first authorised call on a commercial flight was made on flight EK751, flying from Dubai to Casablanca on March 20th 2008.

Since then, 160,170 passengers have switched on their mobile phone on an Emirates flight to take advantage of the ability to make and receive calls and text messages – more than 50,000 in the last three months alone as the service becomes more widely available and increasingly popular.

The AeroMobile system, which allows passengers to safely make and receive calls during flights, has now been fitted on a total of 32 Emirates aircraft, making it available on one-in-four of Emirates’ services. Emirates Engineering are installing the AeroMobile system on the rest of the fleet, with one aircraft being equipped every ten days or so.

Patrick Brannelly, Emirates’ Vice President, Passenger Communications and Visual Services, said: “Using this innovative service has now become second nature to our passengers who love the convenience of being able to stay in touch when they choose to.

“It has proved as popular with passengers on all flights to all destinations, not just businessmen and women but also leisure travellers. It’s ideal for just wanting to call home or make contact with family on birthdays or anniversaries.

“Typically about a third of our passengers are switching on their phones onboard AeroMobile-equipped aircraft, so it’s clearly a popular service. We do see many though, that switch on their phone but don’t necessarily use it, showing that they like the idea of being contactable. It’s clear that passengers prefer using their own phone which they are familiar with, rather than the seatback phone.

“The early concerns about potential impact on other passengers have proved, as expected, to be unfounded. We very rarely see multiple calls at the same time, and most calls are shorter than a couple of minutes. Texting using sms has been very popular. The feedback from our customers has been full of enthusiasm.”

The AeroMobile service is being rolled out across the Emirates fleet and is currently operating on five aircraft types, the Boeing 777-200s and 777-300s, plus the Airbus A340-300, A340-500 and A330-200. It is due to be installed on the Boeing 777-300ER from May.

AeroMobile CEO Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said: “With our service firmly established on an increasing number of Emirates’ aircraft, the usage level amongst passengers has increased at a faster pace.

“We’re particularly proud of the quality of the voice service and overall reliability. The comment we most often hear is that people receiving calls from our customers in-flight can’t believe they are calling from 35,000 feet.

“We are looking forward to more growth and rising user numbers throughout 2009 to cement a great first year.”

About AeroMobile

AeroMobile Limited is a UK-based company owned by Telenor ASA and Arinc. It has been pursuing the objective of allowing the safe use of passengers own mobile phones and PDAs since 2003 in response to market demands.

In September 2008, AeroMobile won the “Best Achievement in Technology 2008” award from the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA).

Prior to the launch of the Emirates service, mobile phone use in aircraft has only been allowed in limited, short-term trials which did not support voice calls.

AeroMobile is the first in-flight mobile technology to be commercially available and first flew in June 2005 on Boeing’s 777-200LR ‘Worldliner’ demonstrator aircraft.  In April 2007, AeroMobile implemented a trial service on domestic flights within Australia. This evaluation project, supporting GSM text messaging and GPRS data services, continued until January 2008 having operated on over 1,000 flights.

AeroMobile is teamed with Panasonic Avionics Corporation, the Panasonic’s market-leading in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems provider, to offer the AeroMobile aircraft technology under the eXPhone brand as an integral part of Panasonic’s IFE systems. The AeroMobile system uses the existing Inmarsat satellite communications systems installed on all Emirates aircraft. These systems will be upgraded at the earliest opportunity to Inmarsat’s latest SwiftBroadband service providing further features and capabilities such as GPRS mobile data services.

More information may be found at www.aeromobile.net

Geneva, Switzerland, 23 February 2009 – oneworld member Royal Jordanian today launched mobile inflight passenger communications services from industry leader OnAir. The new commercial service, which will be available in the first phase on its recently received A319 aircraft flying to Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and India, will enable passengers to stay connected inflight using their own mobile phones or BlackBerry-type devices to send and receive text messages and emails, make and receive phone calls and access the Internet. Passengers will also be able to access the Internet using their own laptops fitted with GSM data cards.

“Royal Jordanian has always been a leader in e-travel—from providing passengers with the ability to book online to issuing e-tickets, making online seat reservations and using self check-in kiosks at the airport,” said Samer Majali, President and CEO, Royal Jordanian. “We are very pleased to partner with industry leader, OnAir, to offer the latest passenger communications technology onboard our aircraft, and we expect these new capabilities to further enhance the high-quality customer service that our passengers have come to expect from Royal Jordanian.”

Mobile OnAir uses the industry’s most robust and extensive infrastructure for mobile communications, along with Inmarsat SwiftBroadband, high capacity services from Inmarsat 4th generation satellites. With OnAir’s advanced mobile communications technology, Royal Jordanian passengers will benefit from global coverage and high-speed connectivity.

Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir, commented: “Royal Jordanian operates in a highly competitive and demanding market, in which service excellence is critical. They were the first airline in the Middle East to announce a partnership with us back in December 2007, and we are pleased to offer the highest available standard of connectivity to their passengers, while at the same time helping them generate additional revenues.”

The Royal Jordanian launch comes amidst mounting demand for inflight passenger communications. A growing number of commercial airlines and private aviation companies either currently offer OnAir inflight communications services or will offer them in the near future. This includes airlines such as Air Asia, AirAsia X, Airblue, British Airways, bmi, Jazeera, Kingfisher, Oman Air, Ryanair, Shenzhen Airlines, TAM, TAP and Wataniya Airways. OnAir also serves private VIP and Governmental customers through partnerships with Airbus Corporate Jets, Aviation Centre Cologne and Jet Aviation.

Since December 2007, passengers have used Mobile OnAir services on around 2,500 commercial flights to more than 74 cities in 34 countries in Europe and North Africa. According to a recent passenger survey, 80% of passengers who have used Mobile OnAir services on selected flights would like these services to be available on every flight.

About OnAir
OnAir is the leading provider of inflight communications, enabling passengers to stay connected during their flight, and airlines to offer new services and generate additional revenues. Present on four of five continents, OnAir provides the only air-travel industry sponsored solution, now available to regular and low-cost airlines, to private and corporate jets, on Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and on long and short-haul flights. OnAir is the only provider of services based on SwiftBroadband, the latest high-bandwidth satellite technology from Inmarsat, which offers GSM and GPRS for voice, data and Internet.

OnAir was incorporated in February 2005 and is owned by SITA, the leading IT solutions provider to the air transport world and Airbus, the leading aircraft manufacturer. OnAir is a member of the GSM Association and an Inmarsat Distribution Partner for SwiftBroadband services.

More information about OnAir is available at www.onair.aero.

About Royal Jordanian
Royal Jordanian, which has become a private company since December 2007, was established in 1963 as the national air carrier of Jordan. Its vision is to be the Airline of choice connecting Jordan and the Levant with the world.

The airline is located in the heart of the capital, Amman, and its flights are operated from Queen Alia International Airport. Its modern fleet of 29 aircraft covers 56 destinations on four continents. RJ is also a member in the oneworld airline alliance, along with big names in the air transport industry. The company continuously reviews its plans to improve its air and ground services, broaden its route network and modernize its fleet.

For further information, please visit www.rj.com.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (19th Feb.) launched its inflight mobile phone service initially onboard 20 of its (mainly) Dublin based aircraft. This is the first step in fitting Ryanair’s entire fleet of over 170 aircraft to allow all passengers to make and receive mobile calls and texts on all Ryanair flights.

Passengers on Ryanair’s 20 OnAir enabled aircraft can now make and receive voice calls at (non–EU) international roaming rates (£1.50-£3 pm) text messages (40p+) and email (£1-£2) using their mobile phones, BlackBerrys and other smartphones. These price tariffs are set by each mobile service provider and are subject to each customer’s individual price plan.

The service will initially be available to “O2” customers and to customers of over 50 other mobile phone operators across Europe. At the launch OnAir confirmed that it is working with other UK mobile operators (“Vodafone”, “Orange” and “3”) to ensure that their customers can also keep in touch with the office, family and friends when travelling.

Michael O’Leary said:

“Today’s launch by Ryanair and OnAir is the first step to offering in-flight mobile phone services onboard our entire fleet of over 170 aircraft over the next 18 months. This service will allow passengers to keep in touch with the office, family or friends. We expect customer demand for this service to grow rapidly and hope that customers of all UK mobile operators will soon be able to call or text home from 30,000 feet to tell loved ones of yet another on time Ryanair flight.”

Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir, said,

“Mobile OnAir is the most advanced inflight communications service in the world and this European fleet-wide rollout marks a real milestone in aviation. We are proud to work with Ryanair, the world’s largest international scheduled airline, and to provide their 67 million passengers with access to this new technology which will enable them to send and receive emails, text messages, download attachments and make and receive calls just as they would on the ground.’

About OnAir

OnAir is the leading provider of inflight communications, enabling passengers to stay connected during their flight, and airlines to offer new services and generate additional revenues. Present on four of five continents, OnAir provides the only air-travel industry sponsored solution, now available to regular and low-cost airlines, to private and corporate jets, on Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and on long and short-haul flights. OnAir is the only provider of services based on SwiftBroadband, the latest high-bandwidth satellite technology from Inmarsat, which offers GSM and GPRS for voice, data and Internet.

OnAir was incorporated in February 2005 and is owned by SITA, the leading IT solutions provider to the air transport world and Airbus, the leading aircraft manufacturer. OnAir is a member of the GSM Association and an Inmarsat Distribution Partner for SwiftBroadband services.

More information about OnAir is available at www.onair.aero.