November 29, 2006 – THE sleeping giant of the handheld business is stirring at last. Having launched its eXpress player and announced launch airline Mexicana at WAEA 2005, Panasonic Avionics then went very quiet for 12 months. But now the Washington State-based operation is talking of new customers in the bag, with more to come.

Not content with carving up the top-of-the-line embedded IFE market with Thales and pitching to replace the Connexion by Boeing Ku-band connectivity service, Panasonic is making a run for the front of the handheld field. At WAEA in Miami Beach this September business development general manager Greg Montevideo told Inflight Online that, including Mexicana, a total of five airlines had committed to eXpress, “and we expect to land another five within the next six months.”

Mexicana has deployed what Panasonic calls “a large quantity” of eXpresses in business class across its fleet and on most flights over three hours in length. Passengers are also offered Panasonic noise-cancelling headsets.

With a 7in high-definition screen, 8hr battery and multi-language menus, eXpress offers Mexicana passengers first-run Hollywood films, high-quality audio with playlists, games, regional short-subject programming and custom airline programming. Panasonic is backing up the airline with product support, content provision, pay-per-view billing and reconciliation, and logistics. The last includes daily, weekly or monthly content refreshment, battery recharging and handling of usage statistics at ground-based charging/loading stations located in secure premises at an airline main base.

Measuring 9.6in x 4.6in x 2.0in and weighing 3lb with battery, eXpress has a 40Gb hard disc and built-in credit-card reader. Supported formats are MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and WMV (video), and MP3 and WMA (audio). Three power options are offered: battery only, external power only (15V DC or 110V AC), and battery and external.

Another significant option is IEEE 802.11a, b and g wireless, with provision for upgrade to future technologies such as the more capacious 802.11n. Potential applications include connectivity and inflight downloading of new content delivered by satellite or terrestrial broadband.

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