They blew the price point, IMO.
A lot of the technology has already been developed (algorithms to stabilize, counter wind, track, etc), and are mature. They did very well in this regard, and adapting the robust programming to yet another drone in their fleet should have been pretty straightforward. While this does have some new stuff that needed development, like the gimbal and some of the camera tech for gesture control, I don't think the casual user is going to want to pay as much as an SLR for a flying cell phone camera, especially if it doesn't have 360 obstacle avoidance for these automatic pull-out shots where you can't quickly intervene (unless you're using the controller, which many won't be since it's bigger than the drone). $199 would have been a good price point (phone or gesture only), $299 with controller and full 1.5 mile range. They have people that figure out what's profitable for them and what's not, so I'm sure behind the scenes it makes more sense to charge what they're charging than for a layperson, but it's not something that makes me want to run out and buy one.
The Mavic-like controller without LCD looks out of place with the theme of the drone. It's as though they went that route simply to minimize development time and costs, and re-tooling to get the product out (scars of mavic delays I'm thinking). That's fine -- but seeing how it's larger than the drone itself, the target audience probably isn't going to be bringing it with them most of the time, and if that ends up being the case, a mini-controller (see replies above) might have been a good option for someone who likes physical controls over virtual joysticks on the phone, but doesn't need the full range capability.
DJI stands out for the quality, and stabilization of the live feed, and mature flight management capabilities (incredible range, stabilization, counter wind, auto tracking, etc), so I have no doubt the spark is way ahead of other selfie drones, but the form factor is lagging behind other selfie drones that slip into a pocket more easily (Dobbie, Elfie, etc) or at least fold a little bit (Karma). Combine the two and you'd have a winner.
A lot of the technology has already been developed (algorithms to stabilize, counter wind, track, etc), and are mature. They did very well in this regard, and adapting the robust programming to yet another drone in their fleet should have been pretty straightforward. While this does have some new stuff that needed development, like the gimbal and some of the camera tech for gesture control, I don't think the casual user is going to want to pay as much as an SLR for a flying cell phone camera, especially if it doesn't have 360 obstacle avoidance for these automatic pull-out shots where you can't quickly intervene (unless you're using the controller, which many won't be since it's bigger than the drone). $199 would have been a good price point (phone or gesture only), $299 with controller and full 1.5 mile range. They have people that figure out what's profitable for them and what's not, so I'm sure behind the scenes it makes more sense to charge what they're charging than for a layperson, but it's not something that makes me want to run out and buy one.
The Mavic-like controller without LCD looks out of place with the theme of the drone. It's as though they went that route simply to minimize development time and costs, and re-tooling to get the product out (scars of mavic delays I'm thinking). That's fine -- but seeing how it's larger than the drone itself, the target audience probably isn't going to be bringing it with them most of the time, and if that ends up being the case, a mini-controller (see replies above) might have been a good option for someone who likes physical controls over virtual joysticks on the phone, but doesn't need the full range capability.
DJI stands out for the quality, and stabilization of the live feed, and mature flight management capabilities (incredible range, stabilization, counter wind, auto tracking, etc), so I have no doubt the spark is way ahead of other selfie drones, but the form factor is lagging behind other selfie drones that slip into a pocket more easily (Dobbie, Elfie, etc) or at least fold a little bit (Karma). Combine the two and you'd have a winner.
