Zune Inflight Audio

[roguemat]

CHICAGO, Jun 03, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- United Airlines today announced that customers have more choices of free music with the introduction of Zune inflight audio on all United aircraft. United now offers customers a broader selection of music to enjoy during their onboard experience, with up to 21 separate playlists programmed by Zune, Microsoft's premium digital entertainment service.
In addition to familiar channels such as Classic Rock, Contemporary Pop, and Classical, United now features distinctive options such as Soundtracks, Electronic Dance, Opera and Piano Jazz. Customers may continue to enjoy live communication between the flight deck and air traffic control through United's popular "From the Flight Deck" audio on Channel 9, a feature that's unique to United.
"United is committed to providing our customers with innovative onboard entertainment options, and we look forward to working with Zune and Microsoft to create new onboard experiences," said Tom O'Toole, United's senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
"We are excited about this collaboration, which will allow millions of United customers to experience Zune and discover new music through select Zune custom playlists from top artists," says Dave McLauchlan, senior business development manager at Microsoft.
Full channel line-ups can be found in United's in-flight magazine, Hemispheres.

SOURCE: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/p...io-963286.html

@Zune just tweeted this. Pretty cool, except the only airline I use is Etihad :-/. Dave even makes an appearance!

[CrowdAds]

[lem7]

Oh sweet, Ahha we know that guy... Dave =D
This will definitely show people what Zune is about =)
This is exciting news!

[Moonrakerone]

Very exciting. Unfortunately anyone with the money to fly united has already bought every apple product ever made, but it is a very cool way to get some exposure.

[turdbogls]

this is pretty cool....it will be nice to be able to play a game and not kill the battery if i still want to listen to music. Great job.

however, hopefully this is not the really BIG news Dave has been talking about....i love it, and think it is great, but i was hoping the BIG news he was talking about were some new apps.

[clubdirthill]

300,000 people a day will be exposed to Zune via this deal. Zune will probably get more exposure from this in one day of this then the last 4 years of non-advertising.

[routerbad]

It's definitely significant from a visibility and marketing perspective. I'm curious to know what Dave has up his sleeve for the coming weeks, though.

[dfkt]

What, no True Norwegian Black Metal channel?

[lip]

It's an ok development for the Zune brand but for our Zune HD's...really who the f cares...unless you fly as much as Dave, it has little impact on our Zune HD world....hopefully this wasn't the big announcement he was on about...

[p0ke37]

I honestly think Dave has something BIGGER up his sleeve.

[routerbad]

I fly once or twice a month, but never united. I always fly either US Airways (free checked bag for military) or AirTran (cheap fares). If I'm ever on a flight for more than three hours I'll probably fly united.

[walker]

Wow... this is not as exciting as it was made out to be... but i didnt expect much more from Zune at this point

[DaveMac-MS]

Hey guys:

Sorry to have been tied up yesterday and wasn't able to comment too much previously. You might recall earlier in the year and last year when I was bouncing back and forth between Seattle and Chicago - now you know why.

This is a great deal for us, and puts Zune (the service, yes, but also the devices) front and centre before nearly 100MM pairs of eyeballs a year. The actual product is entertainment programming, but this deal also includes a lot of visibility for our hardware and both UA and MS are excited about looking at what comes next for us.

I hosted UA execs out here in Seattle yesterday and spent the whole day talking shop (hence why I was offline). Took them on a tour of the campus, showed them some fun tech, etc... and I hope to be able to keep reporting on the development of our relationship. We'll see...

Cheers, Dave.

[Olley]

How does it help the Zune HD explicitely, Dave? Will there be some advertising for the HD on the flights? Maybe in-between songs?

"If you've enjoyed the Zune music you've been listening to, then visit Zune.Net for a look at the amazing HD, a device with access to that same great music!"

Olley

[DaveMac-MS]

Exactly. Overhead video, as well as a small number of ads in between songs on the audio channels.

Cheers, Dave.

[Olley]

It might work then. My wife is the frequent traveler, and she has often been seduced to buy stuff from the in-flight magazines when bored. Here's to hoping I meet another Zune HD owner in the next 6 months!

Olley

[Maxis]

This is it ??? Seriously ???

[lem7]

Who knows maybe they will buy a ZuneHD and this might help us. Anyways I'm hoping Dave next stop is at Google HQ to talk about a YouTube app =)

[roguemat]

You guys obviously haven't ever heard "any advertising is good advertising" have you? Regardless of whether or not they advertised the ZHD at all between songs, they Zune brand is being pushed. Once you get someone hooked on the brand they will follow suit with things associated with it.
In my country we dont get the ZHD, so you would think that no-one knows about it. BUT as soon as I show people my device they go 'WOW', so thats what its like. This is because everyone has XBoxes which have the pretty Zune logo on.

[turdbogls]

So i just saw something about being able to rent an ipad for a flight for like $8.50.....so naturally you should undercut them and offer a zune hd loaded with movies, give em wireless, and let them enjoy. They will be blown away and it gets the product into their hands as well. Everyone knows people fall in love with this device once they play around with one.

[lem7]

Rent a ZuneHD and maybe they will buy one =)