The last place for wireless to penetrate may actually be where the money is – according to this Forbes article:
Boeing plans to charge $30 for flights longer than six hours, $19.95 for flights of four to six hours, $14.95 for shorter flights and $9.95 for a 30-minute trial.
Continuous access from Munich to LA for $30? Definitely.
How about Munich to Tokyo? Definitely.
Wi-Fi is a valuable amenity and airlines should use this offering as a stepping stone to more specific and valuable customer offerings.
This may just be what carriers like United need to cruise into the black.
In a related story, Two Apple managers videoconference at 35k feet
In what might have been the first in-air commercial videoconference, Apple product manager Kurt Knight, on the ground in Cupertino, hooked up over iChat AV with product line manager Eric Zelenka, returning to San Francisco from Munich, by leveraging Lufthansa’s new wireless high-speed broadband connection service.