Could Samsung be the Samsung of drones?
Drones are pretty much what we’ve been talking about on the internet, besides of course, phones. Why the sudden interest though? We’ve been reading about drones right since the start of the millennium, but it’s only now that drones are trending as much as they are. The only possible reason I can fathom at the moment is commercial viability. Thanks to the perennial technological revolution, drones, especially those with four propellers (i.e., ‘quad-copters’) are finally affordable for the common man. You can now buy drones for as low as US$15, or make one yourself right from the comfort of your home and spend how much ever you can.
Not long back, a chirpy bird spread word about the fact that Samsung built itself a whole new lab to build new drones and other products for its Internet of Things catalogue. As for the smartphone market, there’s hardly a maker with the reach of Samsung; the company has an authoritative foothold in almost every market across the globe. That is what makes Samsung the Samsung of smartphones. Now that the ambitious maker is looking to, or at least has shown signs to, head into the drone market, an obvious question arises in every mind reading this bit: will it be able to re-create the magic in the drone arena? Will Samsung be able to become the Samsung of drones?
This question, like many more, will only be answered when the time is due. As for the current market, China’s DJI leads the way along with companies such as Parrot, and others. To succeed in the drone market, not only will Samsung have to make its products as affordable as some of its phones, but it’ll also have to provide the cushion of an extensive retail chain. Now, to do that for what will be the first generation of truly commercial drones for Samsung, is by no means an easy feat.
As drones get more popular, legal implications of flying the man made machine start appearing as well. If you’re into flying drones, now is a good time to start. If you haven’t yet guessed why, read the first line of this paragraph again. Yeah, slowly but certainly, governments around the world are going to take note of the hazards that drones bring along with them. This could be something as simple as choking hazard, and something altogether as serious as national security. Because rules on that aren’t clear yet, companies such as Samsung can’t go full-blooded with R&D, and consequently, manufacturing of drones.
If you didn’t know, even companies such as Huawei have tried their hand at commercial drone manufacture. The time is all but ripe for Samsung to take a dive into the drone pool already, but issues such as the ones mentioned previously need to be taken care of before that.
In a nutshell, Samsung’s authoritative position in the world market is something that could certainly make it the Samsung of drones as well, but if you ask for a timeline, I, like many others reading this article, believe that there’s a fair bit to go before we can even think of that. Don’t you agree?
