The big picture: Parrot’s decision to pull out of the entry-level market isn’t all that surprising. In a 2017 financial filing, the company expressed interest in focusing more on its commercial business. And by 2018, rival DJI had captured roughly 74 percent of the global retail market share.
French tech manufacturer Parrot is exiting the mini drone market, the company confirmed this week.
.@wirecutter got official confirmation today that @Parrot is indeed pulling out of the mini drone market. Websites like Amazon have slowly been running out of stock. We'll be retiring the Mambo and Swing as our top picks and testing new drones soon. https://t.co/WbvyIxs3Fj
— Signe Brewster (@signe) July 18, 2019
In a statement issued to The Verge, a Parrot spokesperson said the company has stopped production and development of all drones except the Anafi and its variations. If you’ve noticed that models like the Mambo and Swing are increasingly harder to find online, this is why.
Founded in 1994 as a general purpose electronics maker, Parrot got into the drone business in 2010 with the introduction of the Parrot AR Drone at CES. Over the next several years, the company would introduce several consumer drone models including the Parrot Bebop and the aforementioned Mambo and Swing.
Earlier this year, the drone maker unveiled a new version of its Anafi drone equipped with a thermal camera from Flir in a bid to appeal to firefighters, building inspectors and other commercial operators who value being able to visualize thermal events.
Masthead credit: Parrot drone by Gorlov-KV
https://www.techspot.com/news/81046-parrot-pulls-out-entry-level-drone-market.html
