Human Bent of Amazon's Octocopter Delivery

Bloomberg's Tom Keene, Sara Eisen and Scarlet Fu seem to scoff at Jeff Bezo's octocopter delivery concept (hmm).  You'd think by now, people, especially business reporters, wouldn't be so dismissive of futuristic, innovative ideas.

eBay leveled off in 2013, after a steady upward rise in its stock performance over five years. This rise coincides with John Donahoe's appointment as President and CEO in 2008.  There is certainly no dismissing such performance, especially during a devastating downturn.  But I wonder how innovative eBay really is.  Donahoe's reference to bold innovations in commerce, delivery and PayPal does not seem bold.  They're not among The 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2013, based on a Booz & Co. study.  

Be that as it may, eBay is proof positive that you don't have to be an innovation leader, in the least, to do really well as a company.  Yet, I'd still caution CEOs like Donahoe from characterizing what Amazon and Google are doing as "long-term fantasies," lest their companies go the way of BlackBerry.

Amazon hopes to get its delivery-by-drones plan "off the ground" by 2015. Is this possible? Kramer Levin Special Council Brendan Schulman visits the News Hub to talk about laws and FAA regulations related to this endeavor.

There was a bit of a discussion, after I posted this video no Google+:

There was a tongue in cheek response I saw yesterday on the Amazon drone topic. It basically said, if Amazon drones start up, the next big thing will be how many are shot down by people looking for free stuff. Although the comment was a little funny at the time, it actually could become a big concern.

Definitely, Joy. It's an awesome retail idea, but Jeff Bezos said we were about five years away from seeing these drone deliveries from Amazon. So much that has to be worked out are the human factors. The technology is already here.

The technology is here for a 15 minute flight time and if your lucky a 1km return trip no waiting around. In 5 years they will be more valuable than what is in the box and they will be unguarded? They would have to add prop cages but this is a crass play on peoples wishes of a high tech Amazon and future. Like the old Pop Science cover stories. At best for them these will replace the workers in the warehouses which is what I suspect this is all about.

Safeguarding both octocopter and order must be on Bezo's To-Resolve list, as the economic and political fallout of lost jobs must be as well.

(image credit)

I guess that, in the future, babies can be ordered on Amazon, and have them delivered to eager, waiting parents in a matter of minutes.  

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD