What is the point of Airplane Mode Mr Jobs?

By Mike Kirkland

I have recently returned from a business trip to Florence to install a Polycom Video Conference solution for one of my very good clients. This was the first time that I had taken an iPhone with me, as the new Exchange features enabled me to stay in touch with the office. I was looking forward to watching a episode of ‘Spooks’ that I had previously purchased and downloaded from the iTunes store.

All began well as I switched the iPhone into Airplane Mode to disable the wireless capability in the departure lounge, effectively turning my iPhone into an iPod Touch. Thirty minutes into the flight and ‘Adam Carter and Co’ were about to save the country from certain destruction and I was tapped on the shoulder by a flight attendant. “Is that an iPhone or a Touch sir?” I knew what was coming and momentarily thought about telling a little white lie, but as the flight attendant was obviously technically savvy I quickly decided against it. “It is an iPhone in Airplane Mode” I replied. I think that you can guess what happened next, and rest assured I had to wait to find out whether the country was safe from attack again.

Upon returning to the UK, I started reading up on a few Blogs to see whether this was a common problem. It turns out that some poor chap in America decided to push this point to the end and was promptly arrested on his arrival!

This got me wondering about how Steve Jobs copes with this predicament when travelling around the world. You can just imagine the scene in the flight cabin. “Is that an iPhone Mr Jobs?”

Surely this problem could be resolved very easily with a dialog between Apple and the Airlines? If Airplane Mode does not make the iPhone safe for Air Travel then really what is the point in having it?