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Many airlines put iPads in the seat pocket instead. Some have a clip in the seat back to fit it while you're flying. They're lighter and have much better scre
by batiudrami 8y ago
Many airlines put iPads in the seat pocket instead. Some have a clip in the seat back to fit it while you're flying. They're lighter and have much better screen quality (plus use a standard 3.5mm headphone jack).
I wouldn't be surprised if they were significantly cheaper, too.
- jfaat 8y agoYou wouldn’t be surprised to learn that an iPad cost less than a cheaply made screen with lower resolution, smaller size, without things like wifi, gps, battery, and ssd storage?
- batiudrami 8y agoApple operates on orders of magnitude larger production runs than custom built products just for aircraft fitouts. I suspect the margins are generous, too.
- GhostVII 8y agoAn iPad has economies of scale that probably aren't present to the same degree in those airplane screens. Plus, if you have only iPads you don't have to pay for a specialized infotainment system, which is also proabnly expensive for the same reason. An iPad is like $300 new, that's pretty cheap. The in plane entertainment has ads though, so maybe those bring in revenue that an iPad couldn't.
- batiudrami 8y agoThe iPads I've seen run a custom app to deliver the in flight experience including flight paths and streaming entertainment from the in-flight Wifi compelte with preroll ads. But you're defintely right about economies of scale.
- mikeash 8y agoA general rule of thumb is that any item intended for aviation use gets an extra zero added to the price. Sometimes two zeroes.