OzRunways bought by Boeing

[rgmwa]

It seems that OzRunways has been sold to Boeing who also own Foreflight, and Foreflight is now also approved by CASA for Australia. The local EFB market is getting a bit crowded.

I wonder what that means for OzRunways.

 

Edit:  Already been noted in another post so ignore this.

 

Edited February 13 by rgmwa

[walrus]

Well that is the end of Ozrunways. I won't renew my subscription.

 

No American company can be trusted not to nickel and dime you to death.

 

First to vanish is the agility and fast updates and new features.

 

Then they start to charge for product support while at the same time complexifying the product and the documentation so you need support.

 

Then we segment the product offerings like a Starbucks coffee.

 

Let's see;  "Student starter pack", "RAA special", ""GA Pro", "Commercial Piston", "Jet IFR".

 

Then we have flavours - "Australian', "US", "Intercontinental".

 

Support levels; "Gold", "Platinium" etc.

 

Then we get airline and company specific.

 

....and I give you ; "BLOATWARE" that only runs on the most powerful tablet available.

 

But we promise that won't happen.....   .........not when you have five million in share options maturing next year.........

 

Because Wall street drives everything and they are utterly ruthless. Wall street will have at least five analysts specialising in electronic flight bags next week and it is those guys at JPM and Goldman Sachs who are in the driving seat, not the former management team..

 

 

 

 

[Area-51]

Sure glad I can use a pencil map compass and timepiece!!

 

So what other electronic options are there remaining 🤷🏼‍♂️

[onetrack]

Walrus - Spot on!! But you forgot the bit where "support" is moved from Australia to a third-world country, where the accents are so thick you can't understand them - or support is only available via email, or by inquiries via the website.

[walrus]

....or more likely; Boeing bought Ozrunways to kill it. That is also a favourite American tactic.  They just "put it on the shelf and let it gather dust" - convert the customer base to Foreflight.

 

The giveaway, if that is Boeings intention, will be the absence of any performance incentives for the previous owners and managers in the purchase agreement, or if there are, the absence of any clause committing Boeing to invest in and  foster its new purchase.

 

One thing is for sure; whatever amount they paid - they intend to screw out of the Australian customer base.

 

If I was an employee without any share options, I would start looking for a new job right now, because Boeing is managed by human Hyenas - which is why they have quality issues. They will destroy Ozrunways.

Edited February 13 by walrus

[Bennyboy320]

I will not be forced to Foreflight when the inevitable happens, think I’ll be like a lot of Ozrunways customers & take my business to AVPLAN.

[Baby Bear]

Boeing took over Jepperson……say no more!

[onetrack]

No takeover of any Australian company by a giant American corporation, driven purely by profit, has ever ended happily for Australian clients of those companies. At the very least, the product is "watered down".

[sfGnome]

15 hours ago, walrus said:

or more likely; Boeing bought Ozrunways to kill it. That is also a favourite American tactic. 

Possible. I worked for an Australian company where we designed and brought to production a world-leading product. A North American company bought our company and dumped the product as it was affecting their sales. Mind you, it was very nice for the company’s owners (and they deserved every penny). 

[walrus]

Sfgnome - helicoils by any chance?

 

There is a long list of Australian technologies that have been sold overseas and lost to Australia from the value adding standpoint.

 

The main reason being that our taxation laws make it virtually impossible to run a global corporation from Australia, as if the tyranny of distance wasn't already enough.

[sfGnome]

7 hours ago, walrus said:

Sfgnome - helicoils by any chance?

Nup. Telecommunications equipment. About 30 years ago. Actually, it was the first of two times that companies I worked for were bought out by an American company. They second one they just destroyed by incompetence… 🤨🙄 

[Mewp]

I use AvPlan, an Aussie company. No problems there and good support.

[BurnieM]

Was that a press release from Garmin .......

[GolfWhiskeyHotel]

On 13/02/2024 at 11:27 PM, Area-51 said:

Sure glad I can use a pencil map compass and timepiece!!

 

So what other electronic options are there remaining 🤷🏼‍♂️

AvPlan

[danny_galaga]

There is Enroute Flight Navigation, which is free but it may not have all the bells and whistles. Someone here put me on to it. I downloaded just to test out my skyecho.

But if you don't want to give money to 'The Man' check it out. You have nothing to lose.

Edited February 16 by danny_galaga

[Methusala]

Airmate.

[IanR]

I love OzEunways, have used it almost from its inception, and have no intention of stopping just because of an ownership change. Maybe in the future if all the dire predictions in this post come true I will change my mind but not until it actually happens. 

[cscotthendry]

This is how Capitalism works.

Competition helps keep prices down and organizations “lean and mean”. That's the story every time something is to be privatized.

So the purchase of OzRunways by Boeing is the opposite of competition. And that is how Capitalism REALLY works, the march towards monopoly.

Once achieved, monopoly leads to reduced service and higher prices for consumers … every time. That is the point of monopoly.

Edit: I'm surprised the ACCC approved this.

Edited February 16 by cscotthendry

[jackc]

On 13/2/2024 at 10:19 PM, walrus said:

Well that is the end of Ozrunways. I won't renew my subscription.

 

No American company can be trusted not to nickel and dime you to death.

 

First to vanish is the agility and fast updates and new features.

 

Then they start to charge for product support while at the same time complexifying the product and the documentation so you need support.

 

Then we segment the product offerings like a Starbucks coffee.

 

Let's see;  "Student starter pack", "RAA special", ""GA Pro", "Commercial Piston", "Jet IFR".

 

Then we have flavours - "Australian', "US", "Intercontinental".

 

Support levels; "Gold", "Platinium" etc.

 

Then we get airline and company specific.

 

....and I give you ; "BLOATWARE" that only runs on the most powerful tablet available.

 

But we promise that won't happen.....   .........not when you have five million in share options maturing next year.........

 

Because Wall street drives everything and they are utterly ruthless. Wall street will have at least five analysts specialising in electronic flight bags next week and it is those guys at JPM and Goldman Sachs who are in the driving seat, not the former management team..

 

 

 

 

They can jam the lot…..good old ERSA, Whiz Wheel will still work, along with the other stuff we have had, since the Wright Bros first flew……

[Area-51]

4 hours ago, jackc said:

They can jam the lot…..good old ERSA, Whiz Wheel will still work, along with the other stuff we have had, since the Wright Bros first flew……

OzRunways can show you if you are going to hit a mountain... you can keep watching the screen which will also confirm its accuracy as well! 😕

[jackc]

My Aera 660 I guess will be good enough, along with my round eyes!

[facthunter]

 FULL of FEAR ae they?   Nev

[walrus]

Further to my Wednesday post. If Ozrunay sales and marketing staff are "let Go" or find that they no longer have any sales growth targets in their KPI's, or if product development staff are Let Go or merged into Foreflight,  then you will know that Boeing is going to euthanise OZrunways, for if a business isn't growing, its declining.

[jackc]

On 16/2/2024 at 10:06 AM, GolfWhiskeyHotel said:

AvPlan

Garmin Aera 660, I have one laying around here somewhere…….

[kgwilson]

The acquisition is a guarantee Ozrunways is history. Happens every time, especially with US based takeovers and even more especially with a company like Boeing.