Vistara and Bluebox Aviation are celebrating their first anniversary flying together – with the on-board In-Flight Entertainment system going through an upgrade to make it App-Free.
Vistara World – Now comsumable App-Free. Image, Bluebox Aviation
Together, they operate the Vistara World on-board portal aboard Vistara’s entire fleet of 31 Airbus A320 family aircraft – as well as the recently added Boeing 737-800NG.
The onboard IFE used to rely on an app to play content that was protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM). However, from 1 September 2019, passengers are able to watch Vistara’s DRM-protected content from their personal device browser, without downloading the app. Previously only DRM-less content could be viewed without the app (Subject to technical limitations of various iOS and Chrome versions).
Vistara World’s content in a flight moving map, movies, TV shows and music. And one of the most popular tools the IFE has – is registration for “Club Vistara”, the airline’s loyalty programme.
The on-board IFE Solution use the BlueBox Wow Wireless IFE server, which allows the streaming of content from it to the cabin.
BlueBox’s Wow Server with A-IFE being demonstrated – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
In Quotes
Mr. Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Commercial Officer, Vistara said
“At Vistara we continue to invest in enhancing our service offerings to stay ahead of the curve. In the last year we have flown over 5 million customers who have consumed a variety of engaging content on ‘Vistara World’ and enjoyed the Vistara experience even more. The Bluebox platform’s convenience, robust capabilities and flexibility will now take this experience a notch higher,”
David Brown, Business Development Director, Bluebox
“As well as providing secure, revenue-generating, feature-rich, and cost-effective wireless IFE platforms, we aim to make these as friction-less as possible for both our airline customers and their passengers,”
“With device software now available to enable us to provide app-free DRM content, we are able to make it easier for passengers to access the platform. That, in turn, means more of the benefits to Vistara of deploying the system can be realised – both in terms of positive passenger experience and the ancillary revenue generated by the system.”.
Increasing accessibility
We consume a lot through apps these days – but they do represent a barrier to accessing content, especially if DRM is in use. By allowing accessibility through iOS or Chrome, this should cover a lot of use-cases, where people can simply browse to the on-aircraft portal and start consuming content straight away (as opposed to hurriedly downloading an app before the safety belt sign is lit – and yes, I’ve been there and missed that deadline).
With a step-change away from app-based access to content, it eases the passenger experience in consuming a product at 35,000ft – without the worry of an app.
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