Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
Whattt?? 15 hundred grand, what is the screen made out of ? Unicorn tears?
Deploying iPad seems a no brainer solution. Good for airline and customers.

I can't speak for the $15,000 quote, but I do work in a related industry. That $15K is of course the "all in" price which includes labor and installation. It probably means the LCD display itself plus the wiring to some kind of back end controller, network, the audio system, possibly including the custom plastic pieces to mount the screen into the seatback, a bezel, etc. I would imagine the labor costs -- design, custom fab, install, testing, maintenance -- adds up. It could also include the cost of the in-service-support contract, which could go for, say, 10 years after installation.

The companies that sell these things sell them in the thousands of units, not millions of units like iPads and DVD players. So there's some cost increases due to lower volumes of parts.

Also, these might not just be regular LCD panels like the DVD players you buy at Walmart. Maybe they need protective coverings so they don't shatter all over the place in the event of a crash or impact.

Finally, there's airworthiness certification. That can't be cheap.
 
Last edited:

joueboy

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2008
1,576
1,545
Same reason I told the car dealer when I bought my mini van. I told him that I can buy 2 iPads and still cheaper than paying premium for the entertainment system. GPS and entertainment system should be standard on all vehicles by now. They can be profitable if they start charging us content or data comsumption instead. That's the very reason the car industry sales went down because of the bs features they try to sell and then it gets outdated in few months. I'm glad airline is heading this direction and it's good for their customers.
 

Tankmaze

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2012
1,707
351
I can't speak for the $15,000 quote, but I do work in a related industry. That $15K is of course the "all in" price which includes labor and installation. It probably means the LCD display itself plus the wiring to some kind of back end controller, network, the audio system, possibly including the custom plastic pieces to mount the screen into the seatback, a bezel, etc. I would imagine the labor costs -- design, custom fab, install, testing, maintenance -- adds up. It could also include the cost of the in-service-support contract, which could go for, say, 10 years after installation.

The companies that sell these things sell them in the thousands of units, not millions of units like iPads and DVD players. So there's some cost increases due to lower volumes of parts.

Also, these might not just be regular LCD panels like the DVD players you buy at Walmart. Maybe they need protective coverings so they don't shatter all over the place in the event of a crash or impact.

Finally, there's airworthiness certification. That can't be cheap.

ah I see, thanks for the knowledge.
iPad really is a game changer then, not because other tablets can't do it but probably because Apple support, easier to deploy and manage.
 

Internaut

macrumors 65816
Great way to upgrade aircraft on the cheap.

Dedicated seat back entertainment systems are expensive and often eat into leg space. Qantas aren't the only airline to do this. On a recent Air Brussels long haul flight, they'd equipped the backs of the economy seats with what looked like custom Android tablets.
 

macintologist

macrumors 6502a
May 3, 2004
636
871
Why don't they let other iPads connect to that wifi network and stream content? I don't need the Qantas iPad if I have my own.
 

fruitpunch.ben

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2008
599
174
Surrey, BC
Same reason I told the car dealer when I bought my mini van. I told him that I can buy 2 iPads and still cheaper than paying premium for the entertainment system. GPS and entertainment system should be standard on all vehicles by now. They can be profitable if they start charging us content or data comsumption instead. That's the very reason the car industry sales went down because of the bs features they try to sell and then it gets outdated in few months. I'm glad airline is heading this direction and it's good for their customers.

Exactly. It used to be normal to pay $1000+ for a dvd player and tiny 5" screen in your car. Now of course, that's a no-brainer, for that price you can buy an iPad mini each for your spouse and 2 kids and get 50 times the use out of it. For $20 each you can still mount the things on headrests so that your kids don't have unlimited access to it, and you're golden. Car audio companies need to change strategies fast, or they're gonna go out of business.
Nowadays, all we need in our cars are a holder for iPhone, bluetooth or MFi connection to an amp, and good quality speakers.

Good to see the airlines taking the same approach, since they're usually rather slow at adopting new technology. I fly back to Australia every few years, and everytime it strikes me how bad the onboard entertainment system is. Attrocious screens, not to mention how bad the movie selection is. If I'm careful, my iPad can last a 15 hour flight, given some breaks for meals, take-off, landing, and maybe a short nap.
 

thespyder

macrumors member
Jun 22, 2009
31
4
Bris Vegas, Australia
I was on one of these planes from Brisbane to Sydney a couple of weeks ago :)

The iPads aren't tethered. They're in the seat pocket in front of you with the in-flight magazine.

They come in a strong plastic case that has warnings about an alarm if you attempt to leave the plane with it (I'm assuming RFID or similar). The case has a screen cover with magnets so it auto unlocks.

The seat back screen is replaced with a cloth loop for the iPad case screen cover so you can mount the iPad where a screen would normally go. Regular earphones are provided for the iPad along with optional headphones for the standard seat radio (can't use the iPad during take off or landing).

The iPad itself is locked to safari, home button doesn't work. I guess iOS has a kiosk mode? The in flight system is all run through a website using QuickTime streaming.

It's standard wifi, I could see the network names on my Air but they're all password protected.

All in all it works really well. However I don't think they'll be able to sell "please disable wifi on your laptop" anymore :)

Happy to answer any other questions.
 

UnfetteredMind

macrumors 6502
Jun 6, 2012
451
77
I was on one of these planes from Brisbane to Sydney a couple of weeks ago :)

The iPads aren't tethered. They're in the seat pocket in front of you with the in-flight magazine.

They come in a strong plastic case that has warnings about an alarm if you attempt to leave the plane with it (I'm assuming RFID or similar). The case has a screen cover with magnets so it auto unlocks.

The seat back screen is replaced with a cloth loop for the iPad case screen cover so you can mount the iPad where a screen would normally go. Regular earphones are provided for the iPad along with optional headphones for the standard seat radio (can't use the iPad during take off or landing).

The iPad itself is locked to safari, home button doesn't work. I guess iOS has a kiosk mode? The in flight system is all run through a website using QuickTime streaming.

It's standard wifi, I could see the network names on my Air but they're all password protected.

All in all it works really well. However I don't think they'll be able to sell "please disable wifi on your laptop" anymore :)

Happy to answer any other questions.

Any provided way to charge? If not, I wonder how they handle that.
 

samh004

macrumors 68020
Mar 1, 2004
2,222
141
Australia
I can't wait for the airlines to adjust ticket prices by weight. Let the hilarity ensue!


Would probably be called discrimination, though would approve myself as my tickets would suddenly become very good value :)

Interesting idea. There would be some challenges - can they 'lock down' the iPads so people don't install a lot of junk on them, or fill them with lots of photos/videos, or delete apps? Will device theft be a problem?

Even ergonomics might be an issue, a screen on the seat in front of you is a lot more comfortable than a screen on your lap, although presumably they'll provide some way of attaching to the seat in front.

While there's wifi, there's no internet connection, so there's no downloading of apps.

How do they keep people from taking them home with them?

As above, there is a device on them that looks like it could be alarmed and/or traced.

Collecting the iPads at the end of the flight might not be so easy. :cool:

Someone could pretend they don't speak English and walk off the plane with it.:)

I pay flight! I keep this now. Me late. Got Go!

Each iPad is in the seat pocket in front of you.

Any provided way to charge? If not, I wonder how they handle that.

Unfortunately not.

The original concept was an app, but this seems to have been ditched in favour of using Safari. This does mean that you can BYO iPad. When you connect to the wifi point, and there are a few, it'll redirect you to the right webpage, made to look like you're in an app.

Recent reports I've read is that it's set for the iPad's resolution, so browsing on an iPhone leads to a strange view of the buttons, as the res doesn't match.

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/wireless-inflight-entertainment/au/en

Information about the pilot in 2011, http://www.qantas.com.au/img/pdf/qstreaming-faqs.pdf

Overall, a little disappointed in this news story, not only is it incredibly old news (I flew in VH-OGH last year!), the picture isn't even related.
 

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
Great now you can facetime with other passengers on the plane. Why use a full fledged iPad and then restrict 95% of it's useful features? Unless they purchase "dumb-down" versions with cameras removed, minimal memory etc.

If they're so concerned with cost, why no go with a cheaper tablet other than Apple since all it will do is stream content from their own servers. That would further reduce costs by at least 50% I'm sure of.
 

ConCat

macrumors 6502a
Mary Kirby you say?
KRtDL_Kirby_hi2.png
 

Bobiz192

macrumors newbie
Mar 12, 2013
1
0
This news is old, I have been on both the test flights of this and the current system. The test flights used a mdm provider to manage and a custom app to run. After they changed to using safari performance is no where near as good. Also I would like to point out they are ipad + cellular(as least ones on the test flight) no clue why they would get these.
 

buysp

macrumors 6502
Feb 12, 2013
276
0
Sydney, Australia
Well Done Qantas, you have just extended the life of your 15-20 year old Boeing 767's for another 5 years or so. I used to catch them for about 5 years between Manila and Sydney and the inflight entertainment was usally 1big screen in economy. This is a step forward.
 

albusseverus

macrumors 6502a
Nov 28, 2007
744
154
We all know why we'd recommend iPad.

But I'd loooooove to know why Qantas didn't go for Kindle Fire or Playbook or some burner tablet, given the limited use cases.

Don't tell me cheaper isn't necessarily less expensive… :eek:
 

ezekielrage_99

macrumors 68040
Oct 12, 2005
3,336
19
Just recently finished a contract on the UX for QANTAS and Emirates for UX/UI design for their in-flight systems, I'm calling it dead on arrival due to most users I validated this with bring either a laptop, tablet or both on the typical flights they intend using this service on.

Where the airline sees the benefit is reducing the capex cost compared to ICE, reducing maintenance costs (if an iPad breaks, swap it compared to replacing a seat) and enabling the airline to claw back the in-flight ad-rev market they have been loosing on since 08.

This is not well done QANTAS, rather why did this take so fricken long to see this is a far better option because they have been loosing revenue for in-flight entertainment systems?
 

MattInOz

macrumors 68030
Jan 19, 2006
2,760
0
Sydney
Interesting idea. There would be some challenges - can they 'lock down' the iPads so people don't install a lot of junk on them, or fill them with lots of photos/videos, or delete apps? Will device theft be a problem?

Even ergonomics might be an issue, a screen on the seat in front of you is a lot more comfortable than a screen on your lap, although presumably they'll provide some way of attaching to the seat in front.

Apple Configurator on the Mac App store lets you lock down corporate/retail/educational iPad deploys like this one. All you need is a Mac and a stack of USB hubs and cables.
 

SoldOnApple

macrumors 6502a
Jul 20, 2011
971
1,616
Whattt?? 15 hundred grand, what is the screen made out of ? Unicorn tears?
Deploying iPad seems a no brainer solution. Good for airline and customers.

For the entire seat I think it must be, but the screens must add a lot to the cost, and also needing the expensive screen there must get in the way of easier upgrades to the seats in terms of comfort and style, you are stuck with the 15k screen seat because it's too expensive to replace.
 

bête noire

macrumors newbie
Jul 30, 2004
26
0
An article on Qantas-issued iPads is decorated with a picture from Eva Airways of Taiwan. Close enough eh, MacRumors, since they're all airline hosties? Next time you run a story on the iPhone maybe you can illustrate it with a picture of a Samsung Galaxy. Close enough, they're all phones.
 

Mikey7c8

macrumors regular
Sep 15, 2009
185
3
Montreal, Canada
I've used this, it's pretty ******.

It's a nice idea don't get me wrong, but the implementation sucks.

Speed to load a video was pretty terrible, (like, oh i'll read the paper for a bit while it figures it out) and there were other teething problems.

I suspect using wifi for that amount of content bandwidth is just asking for trouble.
 

thespyder

macrumors member
Jun 22, 2009
31
4
Bris Vegas, Australia
tbh the speed wasn't too bad for me (although I only poked around one or two videos before switching to my MBA). From what I could see around me, people picked one thing and stuck to it - so the speed to load individual videos was largely irrelevant.

Maintaining charge will be interesting on longer flights. The iPad will easily last multiple short trips, but an 18 hour flight? I guess those flights tend to include USB ports in the seat so they'd just need a cable.

Battery life and marketing is my guess at why they picked iPads over something cheaper.
 

macman312

macrumors 6502
Tried this out on a flight on Tuesday and it was absolutely fantastic. Only thing I didn't like was that you can't easily watch and eat at the same time however looking on the website looks like you can somehow hook the iPad onto the seat back apart from that it was excellent!!
 

Mikey7c8

macrumors regular
Sep 15, 2009
185
3
Montreal, Canada
Tried this out on a flight on Tuesday and it was absolutely fantastic. Only thing I didn't like was that you can't easily watch and eat at the same time however looking on the website looks like you can somehow hook the iPad onto the seat back apart from that it was excellent!!

Tis true, you can. I however don't rate them but each to their own ;)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.