Hot Topic: Passengers Prefer Petit Portable Players Predominate

IMS CEO, Alan Pellegrini, demos the new PMP from IMS

If there was one consistent theme at this years Aircraft Interior Expo it was portable IFE and the growth of ultra-light entertainment. Your roving reporters saw new portable product offerings from: Panasonic, digEcor, Watermark, Phantom Media, IMS, and others. This weeks IFExpress focus is on the Archos AV 700 from IMS. The first thing you will notice is that the IMS offering has a smaller form factor than the earlier PEA products and readers should note that this device has now lost the laptop legacy in other words, passenger platforms are now taking on the look and feel of a true Personal Media Players (PMP). When we saw the new product we were very impressed with the GUI and screen quality were spectacular. The AV 700 has a 7 16x9 screen, a 100 GB hard drive, and an 8-hour battery making it a capable entertainment platform for almost any long haul flight. Boasting a new handheld design with dimensions of 4.2x8.2x0.8 and weighing only one pound, the unit allows airlines to store up to 70 units per half cart making it a storage hit as well. The product already has a launch customer in Air India who has ordered 500 units. Alan Pellegrini told IFExpress that the unit, while based on a commercial product, has implemented hardware and software modifications that support Hollywood approved encryption and decryption and other features. We even anticipate a Wi-Fi connection in the future for easier content loading and possibly a few other features. IMS new relationship with Oxford Media gives them a strong position in content support and we expect IMS to double their revenue next year based on their strong position in system integration, content delivery, and the new Archos AV 700. For more information on the AV 700 contact IMS at info@imsconsultants.com.