What surprises me is that fancy avionics developers haven't figured out a
way to charge yearly for "maintenance". For example, turning
over database updating to Jepp cost Garmin a continuing income
pipeline after the original GPS products were sold. Of course, maybe I
just can't get my head out of mainframe software business practices.
Yes, it appears that Garmin has turned the
database over to Jeppesen, but I guessing (with no basis whatsoever) that Garmin
receives, in cash or payment in kind, a per-head fee from Jeppesen. Every
subscription from Jeppesen is specific to a piece of avionics, so tracking what
goes into Garmin equipment is very easy indeed. So, technically, it's not
a kick-back, but I'm betting that Garmin is getting part of Jeppesen's
blood money.
Chuck