Will mobile phones pay off in the skies?

China’s Szhenzhen airlines and India’s Kingfisher airlines are both looking to adopt the nascent technology in their respective airlines. The dilemma now is to whether the passengers patronizing these airlines will embrace the use of mobile phones onboard.

The apprehension is due to the failure to introduce seat phones in the late 1990s. Exorbitant phone charges have put customers off the idea from utilizing the phones in the skies. If adopted, the technology would cost about $200,000 to install per aircraft.

Most analysts believe Asia is the region where the idea will really take off because of the widespread use of mobile phones in the region. The question to ask here would be if the airline companies can fund a platform to market mobile telecommunications in the air as most business passengers carry labtops and send emails. Mobile phones do possess a more personal field in view of communication but will the move take off? And more importantly, will the idea pay off?