Flying Delta? You may be seeing one of these soon. Source: PR Newswire.
Delta Air Lines (DAL +3.50%) will be putting phablets on flights soon. In a press release, the carrier said that, by this fall, it plans to equip 20,000 flight attendants with handheld Microsoft (MSFT +0.66%) Windows phablets. Fool contributor Tim Beyers explains the implications in the following video.
Specifically, Delta will supply its cabin crews with Lumia 1520 phablets for personalizing in-flight service and providing easy access to flight manuals. All told, the carrier expects the larger-screen 1520 to replace the older Lumia 820 in service on many Delta flights.
Microsoft stock won't see an immediate bump from the project. And yet the upgrade -- orchestrated in concert with AT&T, Avanade, and Nokia -- is notable, since it comes in a market that's been defined by two titans: Android and iOS, which served more than 93% of U.S. smartphone subscribers in February while Windows Phone took just 3%.
The deal should also serve as a good case study, Tim says, and could prove emblematic of the benefits of Microsoft's "One" strategy for providing a comprehensive business experience based on Windows, the Azure cloud computing platform, and its own business apps.
Do you agree? Are you using Windows Phone at your business? Why or why not? Please watch the video to get the full story and then leave a comment to let us know your take, including whether you would buy, sell, or short Microsoft stock at current prices.
