Wi-Fly Round-Up: Row 44, Aircell, American, Delta

Row 44 will offer in-flight portal: SkyMall goes digital in partnership with Row 44, the firm providing Wi-Fi service to Alaska and Southwest airlines. Row 44 announced its Skytown Center portal, free to access, will provide both stuff to read and doodads to buy. Why, yes, I do need an electric, rechargeable nose-hair trimmer. The portal will provide TV, gaming (not gambling), and other services, too, plus a for-fee SMS gateway.

This is outside of the Internet offering, and is something that Aircell hasn't yet launched with its airline partner. JiWire is tied into this, providing the advertising engine and relationships that will offer some of the associated revenue to run this portal. JiWire was once a Wi-Fi content and hotspot directory; now it focuses on mobile advertising delivery. (Disclosure: I own an extremely tiny number of shares in JiWire from working there several years ago.)

The system is announced, but Alaska and Southwest didn't indicate whether they would deploy this service.

Free Aircell trial on American, Delta: First-time Gogo Inflight Internet users on American and Delta can use coupon codes to get a free session. American's code is AATRYGOGO (good til 2009-12-31); Delta's is DELATRYGOGO (also good til 2009-12-31). Follow the links for all the terms and conditions.

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