Drones are for everyone
Secret extensions of military surveillance and aggression, marketing ploys for retail giants, indispensable tools for land, road and building positioning measurement, fresh and diverse applications in public security, for inspection of power utilities, in the film industry or in precision farming, and the latest addition to consumer electronics, from hobbyist to the most advanced
Drone production is not for everyone ….
While many US defense conglomerates are involved, it is difficult to identify specialized civilian manufacturers, besides the Shenzhen based DJI Innovations (private), dominating the market of consumer drones with a focus on aerial photography and an unmatched commitment to R&D
Research firm Gartner expects “personal” drone unit sales — mostly for photography, where DJI dominates in price ranges from 1 000 to 4 000$ — to grow roughly 40 % in 2017 to 2.8 million and “commercial” drone sales — with uses ranging from positioning to delivery, with prices reaching 100 000 $, where Aeryon Labs of Canada and Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, are competing— to grow about 60 percent to 174,000 units in 2017
