It's A Bird, It's A Plane.... It's An iPod
Apple's iPod has already conquered land, now it's conquering air with the integration of iPod into airline's in-flight entertainment systems. What's next for iPod, scuba gear integration?
Apple announced today a collaborative partnership with Delta, Emirates, Air France, Continental, KLM, and United Airlines to deliver iPod integration to in-flight entertainment systems.
Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing Greg Joswiak said, "There is no better traveling companion than an iPod, and now travelers can power their iPods during flight and even watch their iPod movies and TV shows on their seat back displays. We're excited to work with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to offer iPod users an even better in-flight experience."
The six airlines will be offering passengers with iPods the option to power and charge the device using an iPod seat connection during the flight. This allows the passenger to view any video content from their iPod on a display screen on the headrest in front of them. Essentially, no one would ever have to sit through another in-flight showing of a Pauly Shore movie ever again.
According to representatives from Apple, the in-flight connectivity will be available in all six of the airlines by the middle of 2007. Apple is also currently in talks with several other airline companies to integrate the iPod in-flight connectivity into their planes as well.
Apple has the market cornered when it comes to MP3 players, with over 70 million iPods sold to date. According to Apple, 70 percent of 2007-model US automobiles currently offer iPod connectivity.
Currently iPods have capabilities to connect with everything from cars to alarm clocks, and can even be used as your home stereo system by using one of Apple's more 3, 000 iPod accessories.
Apple even has communities for its iPod owners to be part of such as iTunes and PodCasts, which enable users to have a multi-media experience. There are over 3.5 million songs available for users to download on iTunes and over 65, 000 PodCasts.
Personally, I am very curious to see what Apple will be connecting iPod to next.
Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl