March 2, 2008 – HANDHELD IFE provider IMS seems to be on to a winner with its decision to diversify into the in-car market.

At the end of last year the Californian company landed a deal to supply car-rental giant Hertz with handhelds for use by its customers and their children – now Hertz and content partner Nickleodeon have announced that their Nick on the Go service is to be extended to a further 22 US airports, bringing the total to 43.

“Families are responding favourably to Nick on the Go and looking for increased access,” said Hertz marketing VP Frank Camacho. “So we’re expanding Nick availability to additional leisure destinations from New York to California.”

The first wave of locations comprised Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Oakland, Orange County, Orlando, Palm Beach, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Tampa. The new outlets are in Albuquerque, Burbank, Charlotte, Chicago Midway, Cleveland, Detroit, Fort Myers, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York JFK and LaGuardia, Ontario (California), Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Sacramento, St Louis and Washington DC.

The touchscreen unit supplied by IMS can be mounted in the car for back-seat viewing. Elsewhere it is easily handheld and completely portable. The battery can be recharged with either a car or an AC charger, both of which are provided in a branded travelling case.

IMS provides all content management, integration and content loading services. “The extension of our portable entertainment products and content management services to Hertz is part of our strategy to expand beyond airline inflight entertainment and into the broader travel industry,” says Michael Childers, managing director of IMS’ content and media development group.

As well as providing American, Northwest, US Airways and one other US major with a handheld-based solution integrated into business-class cabins, IMS supplies portable players or content management products and services to Virgin America, British Airways, Eos, Air India, Jet Airways, Oasis Hong Kong, LOT Polish, Royal Jordanian, Varig, TAM, SonAir and a number of other carriers.