5/30/2023 0 Comments Similar apps to fltplan goOf course, SolidFX could have avoided this issue by simply using U.S.-government-issued charts, which are free, but this wouldn’t have included the charts outside the U.S. The dispute centered on a claim for lost profits that SolidFX could have earned with its own tablet app if Jeppesen hadn’t created the FliteDeck app and refused to provide the necessary software toolkit for SolidFX to deliver Jeppesen charts in its app. SolidFX ended up suing Boeing and Jeppesen. In 2010, Apple unveiled the iPad, and Android tablets quickly followed. In what turned out to be spectacularly bad timing, in 2009 SolidFX began selling its iRex electronic paper-based device loaded with Jeppesen charts. Of course, there were products that tried to fill the role of dedicated chart reader before the advent of the tablet, but none survived in the small aviation market. The market was ripe for disruption, and this came about with the development of portable devices that were easy to use, reliable, quick to update, relatively inexpensive, and as it turns out, not subject to the same certification requirements.Įssentially, pilots just began using iPods, iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, and Windows laptops to carry their maps and charts. However, the certification process itself ended up making these devices too expensive and hobbled the ability of the manufacturers to update the software quickly. Windows did have an advantage early on as many EFB manufacturers built their devices on Windows PCs, including going through the enormous hassle and expense to get them certified by aviation regulators. The popularity of the hardware platform has an enormous influence on the availability of software, especially in the small-scale aviation market. Android-based devices are in second place, followed by Microsoft’s Surface tablet/laptop, which runs on Microsoft’s Windows OS. ![]() ![]() Of the three platforms for portable devices used by pilots, Apple’s iPad remains the most popular, in part because ForeFlight is designed only to run on Apple’s iOS (operating system). This not only underscored ForeFlight’s growing use by professional pilots but also Boeing unit Jeppesen’s acknowledgment that its own EFB apps were not as popular as ForeFlight. ![]() The ecosystem of aviation apps that run on portable devices changed this year, with the news that Boeing purchased the developer of ForeFlight, probably the most popular electronic flight bag (EFB) app for pilots.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |