September 8, 2008; Long Beach - UTAH-based handheld IFE specialist digEcor is highlighting an upgraded version of its digEplayer XT second-generation personal media player.

“The original XT was released more than a year ago and has been well received by our customers,” says company president Brad Heckel. “To take advantage of new technologies such as inflight connectivity we’ve designed a new version of the XT with many enhancements. Performance is improved and battery life increased, and the looks of the unit have been changed slightly to better accommodate some new features.”

On the eve of the show digEcor, which is vying with The IMS Company for leadership of a surging handheld IFE sector, announced that long-standing customer Pacific Blue was upgrading its stock from the company’s original digEplayer 5500 to the XT.

Pacific Blue, the international arm of Australian low-fare carrier Virgin Blue, introduced the first-generation digEplayer in 2005, offering the units on all its flights between Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Passengers rent the players for A$12 (US$10.50) per flight. Sixty digEplayers are carried on each flight and content is updated every 60 days.
The new stock of digEplayer XTs is being offered from next month on a total of ten Boeing 737-800s operating from Australia to Christchurch and Auckland in New Zealand and to the Pacific Islands.

“Our low price was the key to Pacific Blue’s decision to upgrade to the XT and extend our contract for several years,” says Heckel.