Qanta has commenced its “Q Streaming” trial in Australia:
We are proud to be the first airline to pilot the wireless inflight entertainment technology behind Q Streaming on one of our B767-300 aircraft. You’ll now have access to over 200 hours of on demand television and audio programs, streamed direct to a Wi-Fi enabled device.
You’ll find an Apple iPad 2 in your seat pocket for use during the flight. It comes in a protective case that will protect the device from damage and enhance viewing with a built-in stand. An iPad will be available in every seat pocket. That’s a total of 254 iPads, 30 in Business and 224 in Economy. Each iPad will come with an integrated headphone adapter that will enable you to connect the dual-pin Qantas headphones.
Our inflight entertainment programs are stored on a content server rather than directly on the iPads themselves. Programs are streamed wirelessly from the server to a Wi-Fi enabled device via five wireless access points installed along the aircraft’s ceiling.
If you are flying on the B767-300 with registration VH-OGH, why not try it out and tell us what you think. Your feedback will help us decide whether Q Streaming should be introduced to the rest of our fleet.
More info the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Agog” for the heads up.]
Why the dual pin headphone adaptor when the iPad already uses the global standard headphone socket ?
so that they can ‘sell’ or ‘rent’ their own headphones to you!!!
Because it looks like they supply headphones as well and probably have for a while so passengers can listen to the in-flight radio which uses the 2-prong headsets.
My thought as well. I’d just use an adaptor and listen through my Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10’s or Mee Electronics M6 Sports. I wouldn’t want to use supplied ‘phones; no telling what sort of greasy hair they’ve been on.
They’re either single-use, or parts are washed/cleaned after each use. They change the headrest pads after each flight, after all.
Either way, don’t know why they can’t just supply earphones with regular jacks, like most North American airlines I’ve flown the last few years.
It’s a 767. It’s an older plane. Dual jacks are a holdover from when headphones weren’t 10 cents to make in China. They were a proprietary connection so you didn’t take them home with you after the flight.
Some airlines with older double jack planes include a detachable adapter so you can use your own headphones if you wish. I believe Air Canada does this.
Because it’s a trial- so they don’t want to go out and buy all new headphones (especially when their current headphones are also used on other planes). If the tests go well and they put iPads on all their planes, then I’m sure they’ll order new headphones with the single plug…
Bill Gates: “I told you tablets were gonna be big.”
This is good news for the airline Industry. I just hope maybe jet blue will finally allow wireless equipment in there plans as well. Good luck Quanta
“If you are flying on the B767-300 with registration VH-OGH, why not try it out and tell us what you think. Your feedback will help us decide whether Q Streaming should be introduced to the rest of our fleet.”
Yeah, right! They’ve already got them ordered for many of their other planes. Lol
Have you ever known the registration number of a commercial airliner you’ve flown on? Hint: the registration number is often called a tail number. As in it’s painted near the tail of the plane, where you can’t easily see it from the terminal.
IIRC, Qantas has names on all their planes, near the door, where passengers can see it. Why didn’t the mention the name of the plane?
More likely: you’ll get a Qantas 767 and either 1) be pleasantly surprised to find an iPad in the seat pocket or more likely 2) not find an iPad and be disappointed if you were expecting one.
This is big new this side of the Pacific: Qantas is Australia’s largest airline, the oldest continuously operated airline in the world, and is the only major airline never to have had an aircraft crash (in over 90 years).
they must be due for a crash then!
The major drawback to flying Qantas is the damn plane is usually full of Ausies.
amazing!
The “no crashes” is a myth, most notably perpetuated by the movie “Rain Man”.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantas#Airline_incidents
The correct statement is that Qantas has never had a crash resulting in a fatality.
Any landing you can walk away from was a good one.
The moment I saw the iPhone and iPod touch I pictured this happening. Instantly the so-called entertainment devices in the seat backs looked like horrific crap. Literally they became obsolete overnight and painful to use.
Can hardly wait for the rest of the airlines to catch up.
And you would not believe how much cheaper the iPad solution will be. The seat back devices, eliminates literally miles of wiring. This is so cool.
So they’ll have every episode of Crocodile Dundee loaded in the iPad then?
G’day mate, this here is some tucker for the bush.
According to their FAQ, they will not be providing any more iPads after the beta phase is over. Only the media server and WiFi network will be installed on other planes. They will require passengers to use their own smartphones, tablets or notebooks.
Won’t this cause the plane to crash?! Quick tell Alec Baldwin!
Maybe Alec Baldwin should start flying with this company and he could play Words With Friends anytime he wanted to.