Apple Cuts Deal for In-Flight iPod Use

Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United will begin offering their passengers iPod seat connections that power and charge their iPods during flight, and allow the video content on their iPods to be viewed on their seat-back displays.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Transporting the iPod

Apple is also working with Panasonic Avionics to bring even more in-flight iPod connectivity to airlines in the future. Like its recent deal with automobile manufacturers, Apple's airline strategy intends to expand the uses for the iPod.

In August, Apple announced similar deals with Ford, General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Mazda to offer iPod integration with their vehicle stereo systems. More than 70 percent of the 2007 model U.S. automobiles will offer such iPod integration.

In May, Apple teamed up with Nike (NYSE: NKE) to launch Nike+iPod products. The Nike+Air Zoom Moire was the first footwear designed to talk to an iPod. Wearers can get information on time, distance and calories burned straight from the iPod -- or listen to music.

Pervasive iPod

Apple appears to be seeking pervasive status for its iPod. In many ways, the iPod culture has already reached that ranking.

With nearly 70 million iPods sold, the player leads the digital music and portable video player market. Apple's iTunes Store is the number one online music store with over 1.5 billion songs purchased and downloaded worldwide.

In fact, Apple has built an entire ecosystem around the player, including more than 3,000 accessories made specifically for the iPod that range from cases to speaker systems.

"Once you've got the ecosystem you can continue to build it out and that makes it difficult for other competitors to come along. It raises the barrier of entry for folks like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and SanDisk," Avi Greengart, principal analyst of mobile devices for Current Analysis , told MacNewsWorld.

In-Flight Power

Of course, the notion of having power for your gadgets on an airplane is not new. There are power ports on some airplanes, and consumers can buy adapters that will allow them to power up everything from a notebook computer to a PDA to a Sony (NYSE: SNE) PSP handheld video game system.

Tying a power port to a specific brand, however, is new, Greengart noted.

"One of the key problems with existing power ports today is that you need to be sitting in a seat with a port. If you are not sitting in a seat with power, then it doesn't do you any good," Greengart explained. "We'll have to wait and see if this is on all seats or if it's an incentive to move up to first class."

Either way, the new airline deal gives more consumers more ways to use their iPods -- and an assurance that they can leverage their investment in multiple environments. If this is widely implemented by airlines, a third-party OEM could design an adapter that would allow consumers to plug in their MacBooks.