One of the bigger surprises at this year’s WAEA Conference in Palm Springs was the alliance between digEcor and Shanghai Lefeel Media Technology Co., Ltd. The result of this collaboration is a series of new handheld product offerings: 7” and 10” touch screen entertainment units and new services to go along with them. Boasting up to 20 hours of battery life the players should see service introduction in 2010. The contractual partnership between digEcor and Lefeel also includes a curser-driven, new-player development project. A curser-based unit has been a concept that Brent Wood of digEcor has envisioned for a number of years now. digEcor and Lefeel have also partnered with other entities in the development of these new products. “We have made the process of consulting with airlines, flight attendants, and passengers alike a high priority in our product development. We appreciate the help of our airline partners that provided valuable feedback during various steps,” said digEcor President Brad Heckel.
On the services front, digEcor plans to make inflight shopping a reality on a major carrier in December. They noted that the ancillary revenue to be gained from purchases is very important to their airline partners. Furthermore, a banner-type advertising service will be implemented, as well as, gaming and gambling applications, similar to what is available on the Internet today. Not solely focused on the aircraft, the digEcor people have hinted at developing other ground-based airline applications.
A surprise announcement also included the unveiling of a new PMA-based service from digEcor. The company has garnered FAA approval to offer PMA repair for other IFE vendor hardware. We think this might be a first in our industry!
From our perspective this is a new marketing posture from digEcor, not only are they expanding their service base but they are branching out to include higher value, new technology products and applications and in the process are developing new markets for their services. The IFExpress team came away from the WAEA feeling that we saw a new and evolving digEcor.
