(source: Bloomberg.com)
Attendees of the annual conference of the drone industry have a new favorite word to describe the pilotless aircraft: drone.
The simple term was once shunned by company representatives and government workers, who were concerned that the word didn’t convey the vehicles’ sophistication. Last year’s meeting even held a panel on whether it was OK to call a drone a “drone.”
This week in Atlanta, “drone” slipped easily off the tongues of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs whose sales literature often was peppered with the once-avoided term. Amazon.com Inc.’s high-profile announcement in 2013 that it wants to use drones to deliver books and other products to homes and consumers snapping up recreational aircraft for weekend flying have led to a popularization of the word.
“We’re not afraid to use that word anymore,” said Kathleen Swain, chief pilot for the drone program of United Services Automobile Association, a provider of insurance for military families. “Everybody knows a drone is a drone.”
Continue Reading at Bloomberg.com…
Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com