Inflight entertainment nosedive

It seems that the next innovation with in-flight entertainment could be a bit of a nosedive unless it is managed correctly. 

Passenger aircrafts are pulling away from in-built entertainment systems and are moving towards giving each passenger a tablet with preset content and internet browsing capabilities.

With most in-flight entertainment features considered a luxury, you can bet that business or first-class passengers will be the first to try out this new technology.

But should we continue this trend of filtering technology down to economy class after its been exhausted in business or first class?

The reality is, by the time tablet entertainment systems becomes mainstream on planes, the people who are set to benefit from them – those who travel business class – will more than likely own and use their own tablet anyway.

Telsyte predicted a couple of weeks ago that tablet usage is expected to boom by 2016. You can safely assume that business professionals looking to work with added mobility will be fuelling that boom.

Rather than bolster your corporate clients with technology they already have, carriers change their approach in catering to the general public.

The discount flight sector has boomed over the past decade, and any point of difference – that is still able to keep prices low – will make a world of difference in attracting the general populace to an airline.

Virgin will eventually offer its new Samsung Galaxy Tablets to economy customers for a rental fee. But what if it were to offer them to customers for free, as soon as the technology is installed? That could generate some significant customer hype and traffic in a highly competitive industry.

Samsung would also be set to benefit, with potential customers trying out their product and perhaps gaining an affinity for it.

Tieing with this argument, today's two infographics look at the past of inflight entertainment and how it has evolved overtime. It's been a slow incline towards today's possibility of tablet computing in the clouds. And unless managed correctly, the venture could prove to be a nosedive for airlines.  

Today's two infographics were created by Eezzer Data Labs and were sourced from Flightglobal blogs