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Gameloft bringing a dozen iPad games to Jetstar flights, curbing in-flight boredom with UNO
What's better than playing a nice round of kick the seat of the guy in front of you? Most things, really, including the dozen iPad titles that Gameloft is bringing to Australian air carrier Jetstar's rentable iPads. Real Football, Shrek Kart, Avatar, UNO and N.O.V.A.: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance will be coming to the carrier's Apple tablets in December, with seven more games arriving in the first quarter of next year. All games will be followed by a bonus round of make sure your tray table is stored for landing.
Australia's Jetstar Airways takes the training wheels off iPad rental program, wants the tablet 'on every aircraft'
Here's a quick and easy way to escape the mediocrity of those tiny low-res LCDs embedded in the seat in front of you: slap down 10 Australian dollars and upgrade to the iPad's IPS goodness for the duration of your Jetstar Airways flight. This rental option has been available on the Australian airline's flights since June, but only in pilot form (insert your own jokes here), and the feedback has been good enough for the company to make it a fleet-wide policy. "Movies, music, magazines, books and games" will all come preloaded, so you shouldn't fret about having to shell out extra hunting around for content. Licensing agreements are expected to be finalized shortly, with the rental program rolling out in full this April.
Jetstar airline to offer in-flight iPads in April
Back in June 2010 we first reported on a pilot program by Qantas Airways' low-cost airline Jetstar to offer iPad rentals as in-flight entertainment, and now we have learned that Jetstar will finally start offering them in April for AUD$10 per flight. According to Australian Business Traveler, the in-flight iPads will come loaded with "movies, music, magazines, books and games" and will be available on Jetstar's A320 flights in Australia and Asia. Jetstar had initially intended to launch the rental program in time for the holiday season after successful trial runs last summer, but due to contract negotiations and pending licensing agreements with Apple, they weren't able to get it ready in time. In talking with Australian Business Traveler, Jetstar marketing manager David May said that "if the trial works, we want to put them on every aircraft because they're so much slimmer and lighter than our existing units," and I imagine we will be seeing many other airlines follow suit. With some airlines already offering integration between iPods and in-flight entertainment systems and iPads being used as electronic flight bags for pilots, just how far off are we from flying Apple Airlines? Anyone care to take a guess?
Qantas to offer in-flight iPads on Jetstar flights
MarketWatch is reporting that iPads are to be offered to passengers as in-flight entertainment on Qantas Airways' Jetstar flights, according to a company official speaking to the Dow Jones Newswires. The move is to draw would-be flyers to Jetstar in an increasingly competitive market for budget airlines operating in and around Australia and Asia. "We're in the final stages of putting in place what would be a broader roll out across the network. We're in ongoing discussion with the manufacturer around a more integrated network proposition," a Jetstar spokesman said in an interview Monday. According to ZDNet Australia, passengers will have the option to rent an iPad for the duration of the flight at AUD $10. The larger screen would certainly be a plus, but I must admit, holding an iPad for the duration of a flight would become slightly tiresome. However, I know that if I was on a long-haul flight, I'd certainly choose an iPad loaded with games, music, and movies over the usually clunky in-flight entertainment service offered on most airlines these days. Though, not at an additional cost -- especially if I've got an iPad of my own already. [via MacDailyNews]
In-flight iPads for under $10 on Australian low-cost airline
A couple of weeks ago we told you about a company, Bluebox Avionics, that was prepping iPads for use as inflight entertainment on airliners. Today we've heard that a low-cost airline down under, Jetstar, is launching a two-week trial at the end of this month, on flights longer than 90 minutes, to determine how iPads fare when trying to keep passengers entertained. Available for AUD$10 (around US$8.40), passengers can rent an iPad for the duration of the flight. Each iPad is loaded with movies, TV programs, books, games, music, and music videos, so passengers are going to have an excellent choice of entertainment. Bluebox created custom apps for the service, and partnered with content provider Stellar Inflight for the trial. Although the airline and providers have not disclosed the technical details, we imagine that the Jetstar iPads will be specially marked in order to keep flight attendants from grabbing iPads that are owned by passengers. During the trial, Jetstar is equipping some domestic aircraft with 30 iPads to gauge passenger interest and demand. Data collected will be evaluated to see if the airline wants to roll this out fleet-wide later this year. [via Engadget]
