Nokia has announced that Delta Airlines will be rolling out the Lumia 820 Windows Phone to more than 19,000 of its flight attendants. The hardware will be used for on-board payments and to improve the overall experience for customers. Not only is the device sleek looking, but you've got better security and of course the Modern UI that makes it a perfect choice for the company.
The solution was jointly developed by Microsoft, Avanade and AT&T with extensive consultation with flight attendants at Delta. Rocking out in-flight trials before the roll-out, the Windows Phones were shown to be around 10 percent faster than previous systems utilised. The experience is built on Avanade for point of sale (POS), loaded on the Microsoft Dynamics for Retail mobile point-of-sale platform.
What does this mean in non-gibberish? Flight attendants will be able to handle real-time credit card transactions for purchases made mid-flight, including seating upgrades. Passengers will also be able to use pre-paid credit cards, and Microsoft Office with Outlook ensures the employees can remain productive when not dealing with passengers.
This is just the beginning too. It's reported that Delta will add the ability to read coupons displayed on a customer's mobile device, as well as providing attendants with relevant customer-specific information through the Lumia 820 to help them offer a more personalised experience to passengers. There's nothing better, as a passenger, to feel as though the flight attendants know that little bit more about you to really start the journey off.
As well as the new announcement from Delta about the Lumia 820 introduction, the carrier also sports a Fly Delta app on Windows Phone. Nokia has previously enjoyed bringing companies and big brands aboard with Windows Phone, but it's great to see Microsoft also actively working hard to drum up custom with the platform.
Source: Nokia
