TheLifeOfA_NKCM

TL;DR. The new interface for Delta Studio will be rolled out on the 757-300, 737-900ER, A319Neo later this month and into June. It will also be progressively rolled out for the rest of the fleet sometime in July. Passengers may have already experienced the new look on the A330 (as one of our posters did), as well as on the A321 as well as those quickly rollout over the course of this month.


From Delta News Hub:

In-flight entertainment to get new look, ‘like interacting with an iPhone’:

Delta’s investments in the customer experience extend beyond the hard product like seats and overhead bins – the airline’s in-flight entertainment system is also getting a facelift, and the first aircraft featuring the new look recently debuted on an Airbus A330 flying from Atlanta to Honolulu.

The new graphic user interface, or GUI as it’s known in the digital world, is a customer investment that makes it easier to discover content and navigate between pages. The experience feels “more like interacting with an iPhone,” said Joe Kiely, Delta’s Managing Director – Product and Customer Experience.
The system features thoughtful upgrades that provide a better user experience and a navigation pathway more aligned with Delta’s website and mobile app. Customers will find it easier and more intuitive to use the new interface, which will also help flight attendants who often have to assist customers with using the in-flight entertainment systems.

Upgraded features include improved search functionality, a new Spotlight section to highlight promos and monthly themes, connecting gate information with new terminal maps for select destinations, an improved amenities section for Delta products and services, and a new welcome screen with different background images based on departure city, among others.

KDCAflyer

Uh oh, brand new software that has probably not been well beta-tested, being rolled out onto different types of hardware, overseen by Delta IT.

What could possibly go wrong?

I do like the new interface though.

javabytes

The big question is how much this enhancement will cost us.

TheLifeOfA_NKCM

Considering it's just a skin on top of Linux, it likely took them significantly more time to design it then it did to actually code it. lol

BHammy

Awesome...they made it feel like something that less than 20% of the market uses.

exwannabe

I'll give it a try. But so far on any attempt to use Studio, it was incompatable with all 3 of my devices.

Kind of weird how thousands of sites out their can publish media (free or pay) that that runs on any system I have, while airlines keep bring out crapware.

"like an I-phone", what twits these guys are.

EDIT: I thought "Studio" was the local wifi to a customer device. Are we talking that or the seatback box?

Either way, the presentation layer means nothing. Making it work, and then content are what counts.

SuperG1955

I'm going to start sitting in the last row of F to avoid all of the finger pounding that's going feel like a 2 year old kicking the seat for the entire flight.

It should get even better when the gate to gate wi-fi starts rolling out in quantity.

TheLifeOfA_NKCM

Delta Studio is the name of the IFE product they provide to their customers on both their seatbacks and on personal devices.

This update however will only effect seatbacks. However, I'm suprised it's not compatible yet with your devices. You should be able to, if you have a phone or tablet w/ Android 4.0 or iOS or newer and/or a computer with the latest version of IE, Chrome, or Firefox access it without issue.

TheLifeOfA_NKCM

Unfortunately that strategy wont work on the A321s -sigh. Also it's not too bad, unless you're on one of the old planes with the very tiny entertainment screens that take eons to respond.

BostonPlanesAndTrains

Yes. this is the formatting I talked about in the other thread. I find it miles better than the Delta Studio Formatting of the past. It is also extremely fast, just be warned the TV Shows and Movies default to the new releases, so if you want to see all the content, go to the menu within the section and click A-Z or something like that ( I learned this 3hrs into a 4.5hr flight).

TheLifeOfA_NKCM

Hasn't it always been that way?

ATLMike1234

It's true that it defaults to the new releases, however, there are also buttons shown on the screen below the titles that make it relatively obvious that you're viewing only new releases. I'm assuming that this means the new version of the OS will make this less obvious.

I wonder if that food/drink link on the home page will allow ordering via the screen. That would certainly save FA's from a lot of the time spent standing in the aisles swiping cards, and if the IFE has any kind of way to interface with the internet, could even let them view purchases by seat on their handheld.

jdrtravel

I would be willing to bet that the percentage of delta flyers (and especially frequent flyers) who use iphones is much, much higher than 20%. Iphones are clearly the product of choice among business people & those with higher incomes.

btonkid12345

Bingo. I bet it is well over 50%. The below 20% statistic may be the global market, which includes tons of people for whom flying is not even an affordable option.

Plus, while I bet Delta has not beta tested the software/Linux overlay on actual planes yet, I am confident that have done focus group testing or have heard from survey results that customers want improvements to the interface.

I just hope it will be easier to push the side arrows without having to bang into someone else's seat, as seems to sometimes happen (especially with that right arrow!).

BHammy

Most corporate's are the ones that dictate which OS they hand out to employees. I'd bet Delta is the same. So to them, programming for iOS is the first step as they look around the office and see everybody with iPhones.

But lets do some math:

Avg plane carries: 192 pax (from the 4 listed in OP)
Recent stats put leisure travelers at 70+% (134 avg Joes, not FFs, not biz)
That leaves 58 biz/FF pax on avg flight
Forbes says 47% of "affluent/corporate" ppl carry iPhones: 28

You can be sure that at least half of the higher income business travelers aren't diddling with IFE on their business trip. They have reports out, laptops jacked on Gogo and are working: 14 biz pax watching IFE

2015 US market share of iOS phones: 40% (edit)
so 40% of the 70% lower class that have iPhones: 54
Lets say Delta marketing gets 80% to utilize their C+ perk or pay for IFE: 43

That nets (43+14=) 57 pax on an avg flight: still only 30% of users with iPhones.

We can pad the numbers some more...quite a bit...but we're still not up to a majority of people who are familiar with the iPhone experience.

But as a scapegoat...iOS is easier to program for - with Apple's closed system of development and fixed set of devices to program for - all running a common (set) of OSes. Whereas other market phones have a myriad of OSes, device parameters with manufacturer overlays.