Technology Marches On!
Last week, while returning from LAX to JFK on American, I tried out a new service that, depending on your point-of-view, either A) promises to turn “downtime” into productive time or B) threatens to eliminate one of the last refuges of private time in our harried lives.
The service is called “gogo.” It offers real-time Wi-Fi internet connections while in flight.
I signed up and was up and running in no time – the sign up for an account and logon procedures were essentially the same as one would find on T-Mobile or AT & T at locations like Starbucks or Borders or the flight lounges of various airlines. Once online, the system seemed to work as quickly and efficiently as Wi-Fi in my home and office, both of which are connected to cable modems. I was able to surf the net, pick up some stock quotes (sigh) and sports scores, send and receive a bunch of emails, and generally do everything online I would be doing here at the office instead of actually working, or reading.
Quoting from their website:
“…Gogo is the first wireless broadband network with wings, providing coverage on select partnering airlines across the continental United States* at speeds similar to wireless mobile broadband services on the ground. The Aircell Network provides border-to-border, coast-to-coast wireless frequency coverage for in-flight broadband utilizing Aircell’s patented technology and national, wholly-owned cellular network…”
They even provide route maps of their current airline services:
Gogo is a service provided by its parent company, Aircell. Aircell has been providing communications services like this on fancy Gulfstreams and Learjets for investment bankers and oil sheiks for a while. Gee…I guess they (Aircell) are looking for increased revenue! Full disclosure: One of the mad geniuses behind this service – the Senior Vice President, Passenger Services – is a former partner of ours here at MCAworks. Aircell was a client of Tom’s here for a while and he decided to join the company in view of the huge upside opportunity. If you try out the service and have any comments, I’m sure Tom would like to review them. You can reach him at tweigman@aircell.com.
For you marketing geeks viewing this blog, (that would be you, Drew McLellan, Gavin Heaton, (how will your down under Big Brother Senators react to the subversiveness of internet surfing IN THE AIR?!) Jay Ehret, Kaitlyn Wilkins, C. B. Whittemore, Toby, Phil Gerbyshak, Scott Gillum, Christina Kerley, and, especially Arun Rajagopal, who flies back and forth from Dubai!), there are an array of interesting marketing and business model issues on which Aircell is working. Pricing, of course, is important: I was willing to pay the $12.95 for a five-hour coast-to-coast flight, but will I pay that much on a one-hour shuttle from LaGuardia to Detroit? If the price is lowered, however, will there be enough to profitably split between Aircell, the airline, the carriers on the ground, reciprocal wireless providers, etc.? Advertising, promotion, and publicity are, as usual, also critical: right now, the service is limited to a few long-distance routes like the LAX – JFK leg I traveled. So, the marketing is mostly done on-site at airports…flyers & signage in the Admirals Club, handouts of luggage tags and coupons at the gate, etc. As the build out proceeds, when should the company move to more broad-based, if not mass, communications? When they do so, should it be done largely via direct-to-consumer (statement stuffers in my AAdvantage statement) or mass advertising?
In any event, it is, of course, a step forward for productivity – and entertainment – to be able to access the net in flight. I expect my children will want me to sign them on when we take a vacation so they can play games, or head to Facebook, or whatever it is they do. From a personal convenience standpoint, I find surfing the net in flight far more acceptable than making cell phone calls: Surfing the net is private and silent, failing, thereby, to intrude on the peace and quiet of fellow passengers. It is, essentially, READING, long the accepted form of personal diversion in flight. Phone calls in the narrow confines of an airplane or train, however, are intolerably intrusive. Emily Post agrees with me.
As you know, John, we are currently fighting against a censorship regime that is to be trialled across the country. The crazy thing is, that this type of technology changes the landscape (yet again), showing that blanket filtering is just a waste of taxpayers money
John,
I can’t decide if I should cheer or cry! An airplane was one of my last hold outs. Of course I could relax and read…I just couldn’t work!
But now…we can be productive everywhere! Yikes!
Oh wait….I’m in Des Moines. I suspect it will be quite awhile before flights in and out of DSM International Airport start carrying the wifi.
Phew…guess I will just have to read!
In all seriousness, much like the smoking ban and other air travel changes - it will be interesting to see how this evolves the shared culture of being plane mates.
Drew
Gavin:
You are right, of course. My understanding of the filtering situation in your counry is that it is silly, stupid, wasteful, and, I would think, unconstitutional. I’ve only followed it thorugh your blog, however. I have some time today and I thnk I’ll do a few searches to get better grounded in the issues.
Anyway, a personal note on this: I can remember my own arrogance, when I would hear about things like the filtering (actually, censorship) issue in other countries and would say to myself, with too much hubris,”Not in MY country! Just like bank runs and stock market crashes — they just don’t happen in the U. S. any more.” I suppose I’ve learned a life lesson in hubris.
Separately, I don’t hink I’ve seen an update on sales of AOC. How are we doing?
John
Drew:
I would think that DSM would be a real example of gogo’s business model problem. Most flights out of DSM are short hops to big hubs like Minneapolis, Chicago, and Denver. Would you be willing to pay $12.95 for less than an hour’s worth of Wi-Fi?
John
John, very interesting, although - like Drew - I’m not sure if I’m ready to full access in the air as flights are when I do concentrated and uninterrupted reading and writing. However, what I do like is having the option as opposed to a ’streng verboten’ environment.
C. B.:
Yes, consumers do like to have options. You’ll note I used the word “consumers.” Airlines refer to “passengers.” Perhaps that’s why they generally treat us so horribly.
John
John, that is a very interesting point….
Gogo is certainly a very interesting offering & I hope to see services like that soon on airlines flying out of the Middle East.
I think airlines like Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways from this part of the world are already offering Internet access to their First Class, if not Business Class travellers.
News has it that our very own Oman Air will be offering mobile phone, BlackBerry and Internet access to all travellers on their new A330 fleet arriving next year (It’s a service called OnAir Passenger Communications).
I’d love airlines to offer free / paid in-flight web-access… being online is so much fun than watching re-runs of Kung Fu Panda or trying to catch futile sleep on long-haul flights.
But the best part of this post was the idea that airlines start calling ‘passengers’ as ‘travellers’ or ‘consumers’ and treating them so. An interesting shift in idea and attitude!