United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
Summary: Boeing's Jeppesen unit will deliver customer apps to 11,000 iPads deployed throughout United Continental via Apple's B2B App Store.
United Continental said it will deploy 11,000 Apple iPads to its pilots in an effort to create a "paperless flight deck."
In a statement, United Continental said that all pilots will get iPads.
These electronic flight bags will replace flight manuals and deliver aeronautical navigation charts via an app. All pilots will have iPads by the end of the year.
The iPads feature the Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck app. Jeppesen is a unit of Boeing and has delivered flight plans, navigation and other data to pilots via paper.
Jeppesen was an early adopter of Apple's B2B App Store and previously said that the company would deliver custom apps via the iPad. Last month, Chris Kiley, Jeppesen senior manager of Web and mobile solutions, said Apple's B2B App Store enabled "us to better manage specific app versions among a large customer base.”
For United Continental, the move to paperless iPads will save 326,000 gallons of jet fuel each year. For airlines, every ounce of weight that's cut from a flight translates into fuel savings.
Also see: Apple's B2B App Store: Four reasons why it's a big enterprise deal
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Talkback
Truly a great win for Apple
United Continental did the only thing they should: buy the best tablets for their pilots. That is the iPad, obviously.
What I would really like to know is how closely they considered any of the competition. Was it a tough call between the Xoom and the iPad? The TouchPad and the iPad? The Galaxy and the iPad?
Or was it a no brainer. Did the iPad absolutely and totally crush every other tablet in United Continental's tests?
I think I know the answer to that one but it would be interesting to find out.
Now that iPad is the only sane choice for the personal consumer and the business consumer, can any other tablet possibly catch up? Ever? Other tablets cost more to make because Apple has the supply chain wrapped up. Other tablets have no access to the iTunes ecosystem. Other tablets don't work well with the #1 music player in the world and the #1 smartphone in the world.
There will only ever be 1 successful tablet: the iPad.
It is a sick market.
We all lose.
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
I can't see where you disputed a single thing I wrote
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
No we don't agree. Funny how you left out XBox. In just a few years (2?) the XBox became a strong competitor to Sony's PlayStation, even grabbing at the #1 spot. All because Microsoft decided to compete and challenge the leader Sony....not employ apologists to complain on blogs about how Sony had a hold on the market and developers. Boo hoo it's a sick market.
Besides Microsoft basically only had Apple's Mac OS as a competitor in the 90's and 00's. The tablet market is wide open today, anyone can grab Google's free OS and innovate/invest their way into this vary important market. There are many companies that have the resources to challenge Apple today.
I truly hope you are right dave
"There are many companies that have the resources to challenge Apple today"
If in 2 years, iPad still has 90%+ of the profit in the market, I was right.
If in 2 years there are several strong competitors making profitable tablets, you were right.
For the record, I hope it is you who is right. If I'm right, we all lose.
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
We don't lose. We lose when we happily buy garbage and accept poor service. We speak with our wallets and we are saying that stuff isn't good enough..not compared to Apple products. This can only help to competitors to get serious instead of just trying to half @ss it like they have been.
No, this isn't how the market should work
The ideal market has several strong competitors in it.
Are you seriously suggesting that there are several strong competitors in the tablet and smartphone and music player markets?
Of course there aren't.
And that's okay for a short period of time.
The problem is that this is not going to be a short period of time. In order for a strong competitor to emerge in the tablet market, they need to lose money for many, many, many years while they overcome the advantage that Apple has built itself in the supply chain area and in the iTunes ecosystem chain.
I don't blame Apple for that. Just the reverse. Apple did a fantastic job. Just like MS did a fantastic job and I find it humorous that you see any difference between the market back then and the market today. It's as if you think that people should have been buying substandard products from Apple back then "just because" but today, they shouldn't buy substandard products "just because". MS didn't get in trouble for how they became a monopoly, they got in trouble for how they maintained that monopoly. MS became a monopoly because companies like Apple were putting out terrible products. MS became a monopoly because there weren't strong competitors in the market.
You decry that yet you cheer this?
We all lost back when MS had 90%+ of the market (even though their products were the best) and we all lose today while Apple has 90%+ of the market (even though their products are the best).
We all win when there are several strong competitors in the market. That is how the market should work.
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
In what sense? The Windows 9x family was buggy crash prone and in general did not work well at all. NT was a better solution, but prohibitively expensive. The Windows 9x family of products were nothing more than file management programs that ran on top of DOS. The number one reason for Microsoft?s success, is the old adage that no one got fired for choosing IBM, which became: No one got fired for choosing Microsoft. It was not product quality, but the race to the bottom that promoted Microsoft?s dominance. Granted the Mac OS was not a whole lot better, but it was more reliable and worked better than Windows did at the time. Microsoft has made larger strides in improving Windows than Apple has in improving Mac OS, but there was more wrong with Windows at the time.
Rick: thanks for sharing your opinion
The truth is that Windows became #1 because it had the best ecosystem while still being the best OS for business (NT line) and the best OS for consumers (Win9X line). Just like the iPad doesn't have the most ports or mghz or more informative lock screen, it is still the best because when you put everything together, it totally annihilates the competition.
The people who trot out the "everyone was forced to buy Windows" ignore 2 facts:
1. Apple was actually first so no one was ever forced to buy Windows.
2. People aren't total idiots. They buy what is best for them. That was true back when Windows was #1 and it is true today while iPad is #1.
Regardless, thanks for sharing your opinion. I'm always interested in what you have to say.
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
Not quite...
Not quite. Microsoft garnered 90% of the market through illegal maneuvering. They got caught and were (sort of) punished for it.
Apple garnered 90% of the market through innovation and clever marketing.
Revisionist History
Windows did not succeed because it was a superior product. It succeeded because it allowed lots of other companies to make money on hardware sales. Apple wanted to control the user experience from hardware to software (just like now) but they miscalculated how many folks would view the cost of a computer = to the cost of the initial purchase.
Low price PCs beat Apple's higher priced Macs when company purchases were being budgeted. The difference now is that Apple still wants to control the user experience BUT it is selling the hardware at a very competitive price.
Time will tell if this will continue to play out in Apple's favor.
Message has been deleted.
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
I agree. The current problem with the entire world is the cheap-as-possible Wallmart mentality that everyone has. We need to shift our desire back to quality. Unfortunately, with the economy in the hole, the desire for quality has taken a back seat as a "nice-to-have," where people are more concerned with quantity at lowest cost to satisfy basic needs.
When the economy comes back, companies that focus on quality will be well positioned and leave the cheap junk manufacturers shaking their heads in disbelief. It's easy to copy a product, but difficult to do it at the same or better quality level. Once quality becomes important again, the Chinese junk factories will have to tool up or shut down.
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
I don't know if there is effective competition or not in this space, but I remember back in about 1996 thinking that no company would ever be able to compete effectively with Netscape. That's also the year I should have put about $1,000 into Apple, a company whose products I had used since the first Mac was introduced. At $14 a share it seemed like a good price, but the prospects for the company didn't look good, and I gave it a miss.
It is true that domination often stifles innovation, but all it takes is for one dissatisfied consumer -- or one visionary -- to see a better option, and the world can change.
Somewhere out there is someone, whether in a big company or in their garage, with a better idea, and they're working on it with a passion. If Apple knows that, they'll keep innovating. And if they don't, they will one day be beaten.
So the only statement you make that I disagree with is "There will only ever be 1 successful tablet: the iPad."
It sounds so like me from 15 years ago, and I wish I would have disagreed with me then.
I totally agree with you
"Somewhere out there is someone, whether in a big company or in their garage, with a better idea, and they're working on it with a passion."
It won't be a tablet though. The tablet market is done. No one ever beat MS on the desktop. Apple hasn't and won't. Linux hasn't and won't. Apple is winning today because they went off in a different direction. If someone 15 years ago said "there will only ever be 1 successful licensed desktop OS", they would be right. There never has been another successful licensed desktop OS. Apple is successful because they quit the licensed desktop OS. A majority of Apple's income now comes from everything BUT their Macs.
The funny thing to me is that while everyone is saying "just wait, someone will come along", they ignore my answer of "yes, I agree, we just have to suffer through 20 years of stagnation until they do". Eventually someone will dethrone Apple. In the meantime, we will suffer. That is my prediction.
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program
RE: United Continental deploys 11,000 iPads under Apple's B2B App Store program