In-flight connectivity is improving rapidly as multiple companies work to improve the products on offer. New patent applications may slow that progress. Should we be concerned that the intellectual property battles will derail the current pace of innovation? Or is the IP protection a necessary part of the innovation process?
gogo
AT&T plans in-flight internet service
Want faster in-flight internet? AT&T may be the solution to your needs as the carrier announced this week plans to have 4G/LTE-based systems on board aircraft by the end of 2015. The company will, in essence, leverage their massive ground-based coverage footprint and bandwidth capacity to serve up connectivity in the sky. Additional antennae will […]
Two bumps, one hump: Gogo’s 2Ku aims for fastest global connectivity solution
Evolution in the global in-flight wifi market took another step forward this week with Gogo‘s 2Ku platform. Based on similar technology as the GTO system announced last September, the Gogo 2Ku system promises download speeds up to 70Mbit on the plane using the super-thin antenna from Thinkom. Gogo expects to have the system in trials […]
A few interesting year-end numbers from Gogo
Gogo released their year-end numbers this week and with them their annual 10-K SEC filing. While I find most of the content of those filings pretty boring I also usually seem to find one or two nuggets of interesting news in there. This time around that interesting bit comes in the form of some details […]
Missile guidance tracking systems and in-flight connectivity have more in common than you think
What do missile guidance tracking systems and in-flight connectivity have in common? It turns out quite a bit thanks to ThinKom, one of the newest names in the commercial connectivity market.
More people are using Gogo in-flight wifi and paying more for it, too
Good news from in-flight connectivity provided Gogo in their Q3 ’13 financial report which came out on Monday: more passengers are buying in-flight internet service and, on average, they’re paying more for the privilege. The company hit a trifecta on the revenue side in their North America segment, as explained in their release: The increase […]
Might the new in-flight electronics rules be a bad thing?
The panel convened by the FAA one year ago to consider changes in rule on in-flight electronics usage is reportedly ready to deliver their final report to the Agency. And while the final details are not yet entirely known, multiple reports indicate that the recommendations will include the provision that gate-to-gate usage will be allowed […]
Tales from APEX Expo 2013, part 1: All about in-flight wifi
I spent last week working at the Airline Passenger Experience (APEX) Expo in Anaheim, CA. The event features both airlines and vendors covering everything from seat manufacturers to IFE systems to the companies which make all the wiring harnesses and other behind-the-scenes stuff. Oh, and it was collocated with the IFSA conference which was all […]
Some observations from Gogo’s 10-Q (and some free gogo sessions!)
While I was on vacation a couple weeks ago it seems that Gogo reported their 2nd quarter numbers and actually managed to beat analyst estimates. That is certainly a good thing, though they are still not actually profitable. Reading over the Gogo Q2 2013 10-Q filing this week I came across a few interesting (at […]
Comparing the players in the “Transcon Wars”
With all the moves recently (and there have been a lot, even before JetBlue‘s mini-suite unveiling yesterday) in the transcon premium cabin market I started thinking about just where the different airlines were in terms of competing with each other on various aspects of the service. The data I have here is compiled from a […]