First cars, now airplanes. Apple is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to cement the iPod’s dominance of the personal music player market. This morning, the company announced a deal to let passengers of six big airlines play music and video from their iPods over the airlines’ in-flight entertainment systems. Air France, KLM, Emirates, Continental, United and Delta Air Lines will install special iPod connectors that allow passengers to charge their iPods in flight.

The move to lock in captive audiences - and presumably lock out competitors, such as the Microsoft Zune - is nothing new; Apple has already struck similar deals with carmakers.

What is remarkable is that the cash-starved airlines are willing to play along with a new feature that will divert users from existing in-flight entertainment. A United spokeswoman just told me that the iPod deal does not include cash. She said the iPod deal was part of a broader effort to upgrade entertainment options available to international first class and business travelers.

It seems the iPod has become such an important part of the digital culture that airlines believe the very promise of being able to listen to Radiohead or watch Desperate Housewives on their iPods on a transatlantic flight will be enough to draw hordes of high-paying customers.

November 14th, 2006 in Digital media, Music | Permalink