The MoPR Blog

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Delta Air Lines announced this week that it will be the first and only major US airline to offer broadband Wi-Fi access on its entire mainline fleet.

It’s about time.

Members of the founding team here at MoPR remember all too well the highly successful (and well covered) launch of enterprise roaming on the Connexion by Boeing service,  an in-flight Internet service that was piloted with a series of international airlines.

Members of our team were instrumental in launching the service, garnering a significant amount of buzz for the new offering and even winning a few coveted industry awards for the PR program.

But it takes more than stellar PR for a product to truly take off (pun intended) and Connexion by Boeing never did. In August 2006, Boeing announced that it would discontinue its Connexion service, stating that, “the market for this service has not materialized as had been expected.”

When the announcement of the close of Connexion came down, some industry watchers cited the cost of the service as the largest barrier, while others were of the opinion that offering a power source in the seat was necessary if we were to use our computers to access the Internet for longer flights. Others recognized the huge financial burden that the airlines had to absorb when taking a plane out of service to complete the install of Connexion equipment. It was likely a combination of all of these factors that killed Connexion, coupled with the lack of availability on any major US airline.

Now enter Delta, two years later, and all the wiser. Delta will partner with Aircell’s Gogo service that will allow passengers to access the Internet via laptops, smartphones and PDAs. The fees are set to run $9.95 for flights under three hours and $12.95 for longer trips. This is less than the Connexion by Boeing service, and really not too bad considering most airports charge around the same price for in-terminal service.

The only foggy part is the timing. Noting “sometime next summer,” Delta isn’t too quick to give out specifics.

With this news and the acceleration we’ve seen since 2006 in mobile device adoption, it’s a safe bet that the number of business travelers will spike aboard Delta flights once this Internet offering takes effect. With the cost of flights on most major carries mirroring one another (and rising daily) travelers are now searching for the perks. Granted, not everyone will have the choice of traveling on the luxurious Emirates A380. Still, it doesn’t mean that passengers should have to sacrifice all luxuries when they board a plane. In an economy where airlines have resorted to charging for not only checked luggage and sodas, but also pillows and blankets, it’s good to see that at least one airline is looking to offer perks above and beyond (even if they come with a fee).

Are United, Continental, US Airways, and United far behind? American Airlines has also been testing the idea of using Aircell, but only on 15 of its planes. The other major carriers are throwing around the idea, though none have committed the way Delta has to an entire fleet.  It will be interesting to watch as Delta’s competitors scramble to keep up. But then again, that’s what we passengers need: A little more competition in the skies.

JetBlue has Wi-Fi on just one international aircraft, but does offer 30 or so channels of live television via DirecTV in every seat on a large number of their domestic flights.

We wonder what is more compelling, live TV or access to the Internet?  Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Mobile users will watch ads for “free” content. According to 4th Screen Advertising’s Adlndex for Mobile research, conducted by Dynamic Logic, 88 percent of mobile users in the UK are willing to receive pre-roll mobile ads in return for free video content. Mobile pre-roll ads, which ran on O2 Active, are “attention grabbing” and increase brand recognition and favorable opinions of advertisers, the study found.

More surprisingly, 59 percent of participants said the mobile ads made them more interested in the advertised brand, and 62 percent said the ads gave a good impression of the brands being advertised.

Will Web 2.0 leave email in the dust? Text messaging, blogging and social networking have reached critical mass. More than half of adults in the U.S. surveyed said they now rely on at least one of these so-called Web 2.0 platforms to communicate with friends, family, or colleagues on a regular basis, says MediaPost reporting on an ongoing tracking study from Interpublic’s Universal McCann unit.

The study also found that the 18-34 crowd primarily uses social media as its dominant form of personal communication media, with 85% of this influential demographic group relying on one or more Web 2.0 platforms to stay in touch with others.

So, where does that leave email? Of the three conferences we have attended in the last six months, at least one presenter claims that “email will soon be extinct.”

On the other hand…

Search may overtake email as the ‘ubiquitous online experience.’ Though email is still the most common daily online activity, the percentage of consumers who use search daily has grown considerably over the past six years, according to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and reported in iMedia Connection.

Based on Pew’s survey, email is the only more popular online activity, with 60 percent of users checking their inboxes on a daily basis. Search has quickly risen to second place, with the percentage of daily searchers growing 69 percent since 2002.

Coca-Cola goes for interactive media marketing gold at the Summer Olympics. Coca-Cola is partnering with Pioco, China’s biggest Bluetooth Media company, and reaching out to Olympic attendees via thousands of hotspots around Beijing. Their campaign includes broadcasting Coca-Cola Bluetooth video commercials to Bluetooth-enabled phones and broadcasting messages to users entering hotspots asking them for permission to download content from Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola’s relationship with Pioco marks the first time in Olympic history that a brand has used Bluetooth media for its marketing campaign.

Year of the Mobile. New research from The Nielsen Company shows that a substantial number of mobile users across the globe will be following the Olympics on their cell phones this summer, making the Games a watershed event for media fragmentation tied to mobile.

According to Nielsen Mobile, a service of The Nielsen Company, nearly 45% of US and 31% of UK mobile video users will be part of the mobile audience for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The data reveals that track and field and gymnastics both rank among the most popular Olympic events mobile video users want to watch on their phones.

The research also suggests that the mobile Internet will play a critical role, as 23% of US and 17% of UK mobile internet users will be tracking the Games through their phone browsers, with event results and medal counts being the most desired pieces of information.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that our client Viigo has partnered with The Globe and Mail to bring mobile updates, scores, medal counts, and exclusive content from the Globe and Mail sports team, to smartphones worldwide.

Most of us have been watching the Time Warner “consumption-based” billing Internet trial closely taking place in Beaumont, Texas.  The ruling on this trial will have long-reaching effects on deciding the next steps for Time Warner to move to a “price locked” Internet usage system.

Currently the monthly limit in Beaumont - which applies to new customers - is 5 gigabytes on the low end, 20 gigabytes for the mid-level speed, and up to 40 gigabytes for the 15 Mbit/s modem service. Time Warner is charging $1 per gigabyte if a customer exceeds those prescribed levels.

The kicker is the $1 per gig over the allotted amount.  Think back to when cell phone minutes were meager and running over your plan meant skipping that month’s electric bill.  Now take that and apply it to something that has never been restricted before, and you’ve got the controversial consumption-based billing.

From the initial look of it, Time Warner’s consumption cap is much lower than its competitors. Cable Digital News wrote an article stating that the initial Time Warner levels are:

Dwarfed when compared to what some other operators are considering or about to implement. Comcast Corp. is believed to be mulling a threshold in the neighborhood of 250 gigabytes. Meanwhile, BendBroadband of Oregon is elevating its cap to 100 gigabytes per month.

But I’m still concerned and think the idea of a metered Internet system is doomed.  Here is why:

1. People will be watching the clock.  No one wants to pay overage fees, and guess what that means:  less people browsing the Net at night.  Internet usage WILL GO DOWN.
2. “Metered prices may chill innovation in cutting-edge applications because consumers will have a disincentive to use them,” explains Ben Scott of Free Press. “Viewed in the context of our long-term national goals for a world-class broadband infrastructure, telling consumers they must choose between blocking and metered pricing is a worrying development.”
3. The gap will once again increase between those who can afford the Internet and those who cannot.  Especially in light of the market slump, people will be forced to opt for the lowest price option, giving them poor bandwidth.
4. It opens up doors for the operators to abuse their already longstanding monopoly.  Essentially, we will be forced to comply with their rules.  And in the end, we will be paying and unbelievable amount while they make record profits.

As for the trial in the Lone Star State, all eyes will be on the ruling. I’m afraid most Web surfers aren’t going to be very happy with it.