14 DAY TRIAL // How can this be? Inflight email service and instant messaging? Free? What has the world come to? Are there no more terrorist threats out there? Just imagine the way a conversation would go via Yahoo!'s IM between any random Arab terrorist (I'm not racially profiling, it's just that this is how they are portrayed in nowadays' shows):
me Abdul: I am in position, next to a very nice lady with child Osama: commence phase one of plan me Abdul: I can't, the baby is crying and I have a soar throat and I can't scream louder than him Osama: get up and start waving your gun me Abdul: I have no gun, they wouldn't allow it on the plane Osama: wait for the baby to stop crying and then make the announcement Osama is idle for 2 h,16 min me Abdul: BUZZ!!! me Abdul: we have landed and the baby is still crying. What do I do now? Osama: abort, damn it!
Back to the serious stuff, JetBlue Airways is working with Yahoo for Research In Motion Ltd. It will be available on the "BetaBlue" flight from New York to San Francisco next Tuesday, according to "The Wall Street Journal". Matt Hamblen of Computerworld notes that "Wi-Fi-equipped laptops with Yahoo Mail or Yahoo Messenger clients will be able to send and receive e-mail and messages to people on the ground, while Wi-Fi-ready BlackBerry smart phones, including the 8820 and the Curve 8320, will be able to access BlackBerry e-mail and instant messages."
The test flight was performed yesterday on the East Coast, and a JetBlue spokesman was able to send a Journal reporter an email and received a reply while in flight. Many more airlines have discussed pilots of similar services and want to charge for them, but this one is the first one to actually take off with passengers and it will be free, let's not forget that.