United Airlines to launch iOS-exclusive in-flight entertainment service next month

[Shawn Knight]

United Airlines will begin rolling out an in-flight entertainment service for iOS devices next month. The service will be free of charge with more than 150 movies and nearly 200 TV shows on tap according to their airline.

The rollout will take place in stages although we are told that most domestic aircraft will have the entertainment equipment installed by the end of the year. Specifically, United said they will start with Airbus A319, Airbus A320, Boeing 747-400 and select 777-200 aircraft followed by additional fleets.

All said and done, all United-operated flights will have some form of entertainment streamable over Wi-Fi in the not-too-distant future.

In the event that your next flight is equipped with the new entertainment service, users are encouraged to download the latest United app from the App Store ahead of time (an app is not required for notebook users). Once onboard, you’ll see two types of media. Simply tap or click on what you’d like to watch and you’re off to the races.

As with a traditional DVR setup, users can start, stop, rewind, pause and switch to another movie or show at any time. Things should work seamlessly for mobile users but those with notebooks may need to install a browser plug-in. This can be downloaded at any time during the flight without the purchase of United’s in-flight Wi-Fi access package.

United says Android and other mobile devices are not fully supported at this time, a statement that suggests that might change at some point.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/55985-united-airlines-to-launch-ios-exclusive-in-flight-entertainment-service-next-month.html

 

[treeski]

God I hate OS exclusive offerings.

 

[wastedkill]

So apple paid $50bill to get united airlines to choose iOS only for this? Don't you think your limiting your service to 20-30% of your customers is a stupid thing to do????

 

[Camikazi]

So apple paid $50bill to get united airlines to choose iOS only for this? Don't you think your limiting your service to 20-30% of your customers is a stupid thing to do????

If they just got $50 bil for it I doubt they care

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

So let the Apple users be the guinea pigs pigs for a test service, by time Android and Windows come on board (was that a pun?) it'll be smooth sailing (or flying) for them. United Airlines can't be stupid enough to forsake the majority of their passengers.

 

[Guest]

People without IOS won't know and won't care what their missing. People with IOS will be like "cool." I flew United. They already have movies and music and shitty games on every headrest so it's not like people are going without.

 

[OneSpeed]

Note to self, "do not fly United".

 

[captaincranky]

I would think the whole fiasco borders on being illegal. Interfering with trade, attempting to create a monopoly, restricting communications.

Oh well, I suppose the legislators Apple pays off would doubtless disagree with me. Most everybody else does.

 

[wastedkill]

I would think the whole fiasco borders on being illegal. Interfering with trade, attempting to create a monopoly, restricting communications.

Oh well, I suppose the legislators Apple pays off would doubtless disagree with me. Most everybody else does.

They probably are paying the government to allow them to sue everyone for having technology they didnt invent including touchscreen technology and curved corners.

 

[Guest]

Just a guess, but I suspect the choice to limit to iOS has to do with the fact that iOS consistently supports a single streaming protocol (HLS), whereas Android devices are all over the place with streaming. The problem is well known in the streaming media world. Based on what major players like Netflix went through, I would expect Android support to follow in about 9 - 12 months.

 

[Guest]

I was recently on a flight that had this service in trial mode. There were only a handful of TV shows to watch and about 50 recent movies, all of which I had already seen via redbox or netflix. As to the OS restrictions they claimed to be working on an android version, but it worked fine on iOS and windows devices (when it worked). It was supposed to be on 2 of my flights, but the service was not on the return trip at all. Overall I prefer the video on demand feature with screens at every seat, rather than the bring your own device model.

 

[captaincranky]

I was recently on a flight that had this service in trial mode. There were only a handful of TV shows to watch and about 50 recent movies, all of which I had already seen via redbox or netflix. As to the OS restrictions they claimed to be working on an android version, but it worked fine on iOS and windows devices (when it worked). It was supposed to be on 2 of my flights, but the service was not on the return trip at all. Overall I prefer the video on demand feature with screens at every seat, rather than the bring your own device model.

Good point! So at the end of the day, you''re saying that this "model", saves the airline a ton of money on installed equipment?

No doubt, that will provide for lower ticket prices! (*)


(*) Keep in mind I'm off my meds, and that could explain my delusionality....