iPAQ #5,000,000 Sold - In Use By United Airlines

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040323/235631_1.html">http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040323/235631_1.html</a><br /><br />"HP today announced that United Airlines, through solution and software provider Abanco, received the five millionth iPAQ Pocket PC which will be used in a customized in-flight catering solution that allows customers to enjoy specialty cuisine at 35,000 feet. Abanco created an in-flight catering solution for the entire airline industry that allows flight attendants to offer dining options from name brand restaurants to their customers. The United flight attendants use the iPAQs to process individual traveler selections by checking the inventory, placing the order and processing the transaction for the customer on the spot, and the customer then quickly receives their meal."<br /><br />Sounds like wireless transmissions on an airplane to me. :roll: Great to see the sales milestone for HP though. :way to go:

[Kati Compton]

From later in the article:

"Abanco's In-Flight Terminal Services delivers an easy way for travelers to experience on-board custom cuisine by allowing them to conveniently pay with a credit card," said Anthony Ashe, SVP of Abanco.

Wow - all that convenience, just to please the customer??? I'm SO happy I'll finally be able to pay extra for my crappy airline meal! And with my credit card, no less! :roll:

I was just on a flight recently where they were charging extra for meals. This must be a new thing.

[huangzhinong]

one deal, 5 million ipaq, amazing.

Do you know how long compaq spent to sell the first one million ipaq? Finally PocketPC become so popular now. :D

Edit: Looks like I misread your news. Sorry. :oops:

[Ed Hansberry]

Do you know how long compaq spent to sell the first one million ipaq? Finally PocketPC become so popular now. :D
About a year but that was because for the first 6 months of its existance they were only prepared to sell ~20,000 per month and they were going for $800 on eBay. Once they got production up, they got to 1 million within a few months.

[Janak Parekh]

I was just on a flight recently where they were charging extra for meals. This must be a new thing.
It is, the theory being that people would pay for a bit better-quality meals on airplanes than go for the free stuff. In fact, our commuter train has an advert by Song saying that "some people want organically grown lettuce on their free range turkey wrap; others want chips". Sounds more marketing to me than anything else.

--janak

[david291]

Yes, they're using WiFi.

But Terminal Services? Bah!

[JonnoB]

December 2001 - iPAQ used to read vows during wedding ceremony

Was this the famed wedding for Jason and Ashley ?

[CESkins]

I take it that the customer will be ordering their "name brand" meal while still on the ground otherwise United would have to carry a pretty large inventory aboard each aircraft offering this service (as opposed to only what the customers ordered before the catering holds were stocked)

[thunderck]

Radio waves on a plain. 8O Slashdot had it out about this ohhh 6 months ago. Seems like there have never been any cases, or any real proof, that cell phones, wifi, ect effect flight operations. Little off topic but then again I did not bring it up. :wink:

[Dave Potter]

Radio waves on a plain. 8O Slashdot had it out about this ohhh 6 months ago. Seems like there have never been any cases, or any real proof, that cell phones, wifi, ect effect flight operations. Little off topic but then again I did not bring it up. :wink:

I read another article to the same effect. I suspect that they ban cell phone usage as a ploy to force us to use those ridiculously expensive airline phones. If you didn't already know, the airlines get a kickback when you use one of these. If the airlines really wanted to let people use their cell phones, they could easily talk the FAA and other authorities into allowing it.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I was just on a flight recently where they were charging extra for meals. This must be a new thing.
It is, the theory being that people would pay for a bit better-quality meals on airplanes than go for the free stuff. In fact, our commuter train has an advert by Song saying that "some people want organically grown lettuce on their free range turkey wrap; others want chips". Sounds more marketing to me than anything else.
At least some of this is motivated by the money that most of the major airlines are losing. Many are looking for ways to save money or generate additional income. It's amazing to me the amount of money United Airlines is losing despite the fact that every flight I've taken on them over the past 3 years has been booked solid, but that's another discussion.

[cameron]

"Buy-on-Board" is something that both United and US Airways have been doing it for a few months now.


Sounds like wireless transmissions on an airplane to me.
On United, the IPAQs are equipped with a swipe card reader for credit cards. As far as I can tell from my conversations with the flight attendants, the IPAQs are used solely for payment and tracking. They load to a base station at the end of each flight - nothing wireless happens at the point-of-sale.


I take it that the customer will be ordering their "name brand" meal while still on the ground otherwise United would have to carry a pretty large inventory aboard each aircraft offering this service (as opposed to only what the customers ordered before the catering holds were stocked)

I wish! You typically get a choice between a chicken salad and a chicken sandwich. Both are better than the pre-9/11 meal fare, and are worlds better than the post-9/11 sandwich.

[Janak Parekh]

I suspect that they ban cell phone usage as a ploy to force us to use those ridiculously expensive airline phones.
No -- cell phones in the air make a mess of cell phone tower bandwidth and hopping between cell phone towers. The FCC would never allow it for the cell networks' sake, apart from what harm it may or may not do to an airline's equipment.

--janak

[Dave Potter]

Funny that the 5,000,000 iPAQ was sold to a major corporation as opposed to some guy from Arkansas or something. I can't help but wonder if this is a publicity thing to try and show the world that enterprises are embracing Pocket PCs more.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Funny that the 5,000,000 iPAQ was sold to a major corporation as opposed to some guy from Arkansas or something. I can't help but wonder if this is a publicity thing to try and show the world that enterprises are embracing Pocket PCs more.
Now that you mention it... this is an unusually high-publicity unit... though I suspect that it's the corporations that put in the largest orders. If this was indeed #5,000,000, it was probably ordered as part of a very large order.

[thunderck]

I don't think cell phones would even reach that high up.

[thunderck]

No -- cell phones in the air make a mess of cell phone tower bandwidth and hopping between cell phone towers. The FCC would never allow it for the cell networks' sake, apart from what harm it may or may not do to an airline's equipment.

--janak


Should have read that before I posted. Thanks for the correction. :? So you are saying Cell signals can reach that high :?:

[Janak Parekh]

So you are saying Cell signals can reach that high :?:
Evidently, from what I've heard - cell signals can go for miles, and it's pretty much line-of-sight... ;)

--janak

[Jeff Rutledge]

...and it's pretty much line-of-sight... ;)

--janak

Yeah, isn't it ironic that you can probably get better reception at 30 000' than in most downtown cores? :?

[Kati Compton]

I wish! You typically get a choice between a chicken salad and a chicken sandwich. Both are better than the pre-9/11 meal fare, and are worlds better than the post-9/11 sandwich.
Hey - I *prefer* the sandwhich over the "chicken or beef" hot dishes. In the past, I was much happier when the flight listed "snack" instead of a meal.

[c38b2]

The summer preceeding 9/11 I flew on Virgin Atlantic to England and back and I must say it was a phenominal flight. You actually get a meal (fish, chicken, etc that even included desert) built into the price of your flight. Personal video screens allowed everyone to watch one of a dozen movies when they wanted to in addition to playing video games. To top it off everyone got a bag with things like toothpaste & toothbrushes and earplugs. Oh, and this was in COACH! :lol: With the quality of service plummeting drasticly in the airline business it's nice to see a company that remains true to the customer.

[cameron]

Hey - I *prefer* the sandwhich over the "chicken or beef" hot dishes. In the past, I was much happier when the flight listed "snack" instead of a meal.

I definitely did too until I had a little bout of the stomach flu. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty much unable to ever eat anything again that comes back up (well, at least when sober).

Unfortunately, as I fly at least 2+ times a week, this really messed with my eating schedule. I'm much happier with buy on board.

[dean_shan]

Why not instead of buying so many iPaqs, they use that money to supply meals to pasengers for free instead of charging them?

[Fishie]

A few years ago I flew Delta from Brussels to LA with a stop in NYc.
From Brussels to NYc great meal, personal entertainment center with games a dozen movies, music choice etcetera, from the same ticket I hoped over to my connecting flight to LA and we had a single movie on crappy screens and 5$ for a headphone to hear it, a horrible sandwich and bag of crisps, and alcoholic beverages were 5$.

I take Delta for this route each yeart as they allow a stop over in NYc whenever I am done in LA for E3 and they have become worse each year with first getting rid of the personal entertainment centers on the international portion of the flight then charging for alcoholic beverages(I dont drink BTW) and now on my itinerary I noticed a meal from the NYc to LA flight is available for purchase.

This is getting ludicrous.

[orol]

A few years ago I flew Delta from Brussels to LA with a stop in NYc.
From Brussels to NYc great meal, personal entertainment center with games a dozen movies, music choice etcetera, from the same ticket I hoped over to my connecting flight to LA and we had a single movie on crappy screens and 5$ for a headphone to hear it, a horrible sandwich and bag of crisps, and alcoholic beverages were 5$.

I take Delta for this route each yeart as they allow a stop over in NYc whenever I am done in LA for E3 and they have become worse each year with first getting rid of the personal entertainment centers on the international portion of the flight then charging for alcoholic beverages(I dont drink BTW) and now on my itinerary I noticed a meal from the NYc to LA flight is available for purchase.

This is getting ludicrous.

just normal with all US airlines :-/ the service is horrible. there isn't any real difference flying delta and let's say any low cost airline

if there a chance I take direct flight from frankfurt to san francisco or LA .. or any other US destination .. lufthansa and other european major airlines have WAY bettery service ..

[orol]

...and it's pretty much line-of-sight... ;)

--janak

Yeah, isn't it ironic that you can probably get better reception at 30 000' than in most downtown cores? :?

no you don't get any reception that high .. since GSM or CDMA aerials on BTS aren't in upward direction

[thunderck]

Line of sight you say. Interesting. Anyone have any numbers on yield loss for cell signal at line of sight :?:

[Fishie]

Yeah i know, its just the stop over in NYc after E3 that makes me use them instead of a direct flight or flight with a Euro carier.
The difference in legroom and service is staggering.
To Japan with Euro and Asian cariers there is just about always excellent service decent meals, personal entertainment centers and a self service snack service between the two meals served.

A few years ago I flew Delta from Brussels to LA with a stop in NYc.
From Brussels to NYc great meal, personal entertainment center with games a dozen movies, music choice etcetera, from the same ticket I hoped over to my connecting flight to LA and we had a single movie on crappy screens and 5$ for a headphone to hear it, a horrible sandwich and bag of crisps, and alcoholic beverages were 5$.

I take Delta for this route each yeart as they allow a stop over in NYc whenever I am done in LA for E3 and they have become worse each year with first getting rid of the personal entertainment centers on the international portion of the flight then charging for alcoholic beverages(I dont drink BTW) and now on my itinerary I noticed a meal from the NYc to LA flight is available for purchase.

This is getting ludicrous.

just normal with all US airlines :-/ the service is horrible. there isn't any real difference flying delta and let's say any low cost airline

if there a chance I take direct flight from frankfurt to san francisco or LA .. or any other US destination .. lufthansa and other european major airlines have WAY bettery service ..