APEX Review
Showstoppers at APEX
APEX in Seattle this year attracted 126 exhibitors, ranging from mega film industry providers to high quality headset suppliers. Delegates registered in at 2300, a record for any APEX EXPO held outside of Southern California. Jo Austin and Jeremy Clark take a non-technical view
As Patrick Brannelly, president of APEX, reported in his opening speech at APEX/IFSA in Seattle: ”Aircraft manufacturers simply can’t make new planes fast enough”. Much of this demand is coming from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and with every new and retro-fitted plane comes the requirement for the latest in hi-spec technology to ensure connectivity in every corner. This means new seats, new screens and millions of miles of cables capable of carrying intelligence direct to the passenger, pilot and crew. In a magazine like Onboard Hospitality, which
covers most of the passenger experience within the cabin, we can see the spend on catering being reduced while the spend on IFE is increasing. Whereas passengers can carry on a sandwich they can’t carry on a TV set – although that may soon change with American Airlines deploying 6,000 Samsung 10.1-inch Galaxy Tablets to entertain their passengers on transatlantic and some international flights. Innovation was everywhere at the show
although some of it still requires some attention to be perfected, and other ideas frankly left us scratching our heads. For technical brilliance, the Thales Gesture
Controlled system is a lot of fun. For those sitting in seats where the screen is out of reach to touch, the gesture control reacts to the movement of your hand. Films, TV shows and any other IFE offering is accessible simply by moving your hand around and controlling the cursor on the screen. Thales sr manager, design and brand development Chris Mondragon demonstrated this award- winning system in a live set up. It worked very well, and we now have a vision of a cabin full of passengers looking as though they are doing Tai Chee as they select their items.
The problem comes when you gesture to the steward to bring another G&T and find that BBC News has become The Flintstones. This small issue will, of course, be overcome and the underlying concept of gesture control is bound to make a big play in future installations. If it avoids the seat moving back and forth as the child behind selects game after game on his touch screen, then we’re all for it! Multi-tasking were the buzz words of the
show. As if we haven’t got enough to do in our everyday lives on terra firma we are now
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www.onboardhospitality.com
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