I apologise to all my blog visitors for being ‘away from my blog’ the last month. In fact I have been setting up a new domain and a new one stop shop website. I was hoping to have it all up and running in time for the mega Expo in Hamburg next week – but technology has its glitches as we all know. So what I am going to do is blog from here for a bit longer (seeing as this site is so popular!) and then I will get you all to come over to my new domain after the show for a virtual ‘after-party’ so to speak.
Some other news from the Gethin’s IFEC blog is that my newsletter Gethin’s IFEC Review, is teaming with the China IFEC summit organisers, GIS events, and we, together, are going to produce an amazing China edition for the China summit in Shanghai in June. It’s going to be posted on the official China IFEC Summit website as well as being hand distributed to all delegates. You can contact me at publishing@gethinsinflight.com if you want more information about this, or Jeni Walters who is in charge of marketing at GIS Events. Her email is jeni.walters@gisevents.com. Jeni is an enthusiastic advocate of all things IFEC and the more people who get involved with this event, the better. Their url is http://www.gisevents.com/2010/IFEC/
Ok, that’s enough marketing spiel. In fact the focus is a bit closer to home at this time with Aircraft Interiors Expo Hamburg looming. Today we definitely have a market more IFEC than IFE, which was not the case a few years ago. You are going to see the biggest developments dependent on inflight connectivity from now on. Forget about entertainment as just being an onboard standalone system that winks at you in the dark (on a night flight!) from time to time. This will be a sleeping fully connected beast. The new technologies have to have an open architecture to leverage the broadband pipe.
I can’t tell you how this is the most exciting of times in our market. When I first got involved in IFE journalism back in the day (sigh), let’s face it, there was a slower pace. There was always a buzz in the market, because after all it is about entertainment which is the more glamorous end of aviation, but it was a closed shop in many respects. But now, with the advent of connectivity, our whole landscape is changing. For example, innovator startups like Lumexis really do stand more of a chance today than they would have ten years ago. I can’t count the number of corporate casualties who just did not have the muscle or power to break into the market in the past. But Lumexis is announcing its first commercial airline contract at next week’s show, and this is encouraging news for all talented companies entering the market. I know Lumexis is not a connectivity provider, but the openness that connectivity brings is opening up fresh opportunities across the IFEC industry as a whole, in my view. Bluebox Avionics from the UK is also announcing the first iPAD entertainment device called Bluebox Ai! How cool is that! Again, another smaller niche company (though not a startup because it is long established). Rick Stuart at Bluebox definitely has his finger on the pulse. He always seems to know what’s going on in the market, good and bad. He’s always got a fresh take on IFEC developments.
So, the new shoots of spring are with us, and Hamburg beckons. I’ll bring you a bit more news later as we move into next week and before the rush hour at the Expo really begins.
