Personally, I have been predicting lackluster sales. For starters, there is nothing new out there. Retailers are counting on drones and 4k televisions to buoy sales, but I think they are wrong on both counts. I don't know anyone who wants or wants to give a drone. (Brad, do we need a dedicated drone discussion?) While I think people who are looking for televisions will get 4k sets, I can't imagine anyone replacing a 1080p or even a 720p set with a 4k set. So you are limited to people looking to add a set and we have all bought a LOT of televisions over the last decade.
Here are some recent quotes on [anticipated] drone sales...
- As many as one million drones could be sold during this year’s holiday season, FAA official Rich Swayze has told ATW Online.
- The market for commercial/civilian drones will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% between 2015 and 2020, compared with 5% growth on the military side.
- Roughly 700,000 drones are expected to ship in the United States in 2015, a 63 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. About 7 percent of consumers surveyed plan to purchase a drone as a gift this year, a "pretty significant" portion, said Steve Koenig, director of industry analysis at the CEA.
- With prices now below $100, wildly varying estimates predict Americans will buy hundreds of thousands – maybe more than a million – drones for Christmas
I do not know a single person who bought a drone. I do not know a single person who is shopping for one. Searching this forum for 'drone' yielded only a couple posts -- only one in the 'what i got' thread.
I would love to hear from people who actually bought a drone or are actively shopping for one. If you bought one, post a link to the drone you bought and tell us who you bought it for, why you bought it, where you bought it, and how much you paid.
