AIX in Conversation: Jorg Schiffman, IFE Services
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Jörg Schiffman
Commercial Director
IFE Services
After talking with Jörg, we’re happy to see that the industry in general is starting to think about wireless solutions from a passenger’s perspective and looking into software solutions for airlines. He also brings up some interesting points regarding the future of content.
Are movies and TV content still suitable for being the only content available? I don’t think so.
“Right now the market is dominated by suppliers coming in and saying, ‘wireless streaming is cheaper than an embedded system and that’s why you have to buy it as an airline.’ The question is what are they going to do with it long term? Even if it’s cheaper, it still costs. How can you attract the customer to pay for it, or even get advertisers on? We need to find some revenue models for the systems. That’s something that’s starting here actually – more companies looking into software solutions, rather than only hardware solutions. I think that’s a step in the right direction. This takes us to the content side as well, of course. Content has to change in the future. The main targets for wireless streaming systems are short or medium haul planes, with average flight times between 2 – 4 hours. Are movies and TV content still suitable for being the only content available? I don’t think so. More interesting in the future will be to offer different types of content, especially interactive material where the passenger can communicate with whatever is streaming. Airlines can align content with their own self-promotion, with duty/freeproducts that can be bought on board, or even promote future vacations or trips for the passenger. Advertising now is not just a spot of 30 seconds but could be the entire contents of the aircraft, where the passenger will find it interesting to contribute and communicate with targeted material.”