While everyone is talking about Android on tablets – after Android on mobiles -, Android may end up in planes. The next generation of Thales’ and Panasonic’s In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity (IFEC) systems will run Android by 2011 –  2013. Panasonic and Thales are very important companies in that business, so it is a major step for Android in the aviation sector – a step that I don’t think Google was thinking about at the beginning of that adventure! Of course, Android will wear a customized skin – every airline will add some elements and themes to it – and new hardwares and protocols will have to be designed to fit with the OS. Apparently, Android will be on board of the Qatar’s 787 IFEC system, which will be launched in 2011, next year.

The huge advantage of this move will be the possibilities that Android will bring into the IFEC’s experience. With the huge Android apps amount and the fact that Android is open source and allows airlines and companies to develop new apps, passengers will be able to do a lot of things. Moreover, if the IFECs running Android are connected to the web, and can interact with your phone and/or your pmps, it could be a powerful tool which will make your flights shorter – in your mind -. Panasonic has already showed that it was working on an app store. The company and Thales will surely change the industry’s paradigm: Android and other mobile platforms may become the new norm for that kind of platform.

Today, most advanced IFECs are running special versions of Windows. But tomorrow IFECs will be small and individual computers which run apps – it is already the case but it is currently quite limited and restricted.

Source: Flightglobal