Will DJI Spark be the Catalyst for Total Market Domination?

[TimesTen]

Will DJI Spark be the Catalyst for Total Market Domination?

 

[Former Member]

DJI is already dominating the market with 70% market share worldwide of $1000 - $1500 drones. French maker Parrot will soon be gone after mass layoffs, Gopro is now insignificant in the drone market and it's stock price has tumbled from $80 per share in 2015 to $5 per share with no help in sight. Yuneec was one of our only hopes for competition with DJI, it got $60 million funding from Intel in 2015, but squandered it and lost pace with DJI with outdated products. Now it is having trouble meeting it's operating expenses, and is laying off a good number of it's employees due to an unexpected sales decline (aka Mavic). All of DJI's competition might soon be gone, and DJI didnt even buy a single one of them. Amazing story.

DJI might go from dominating the market to being a monopoly. That is a very difficult thing to do in the business world considering they didnt merge with or buy any smaller companies to acquire market share, they did it by being revolutionaries. They got their own private funding and spent it wisely on engineering, at the same time Yuneec did. DJI won that battle. This year DJI has a market value of $10 billion dollars, annual revenues of $1.6 billion, and operating profits of $460 million.

If you told me this story and it was about any other company, I would say. "hooray, Go Team!" But I am not happy being a DJI customer, although I do love their products. Tech support's answer to most questions is, "send it in." That's fine except that they only have 1 repair facility to cover the whole of the USA, and 1 repair facility in Europe in Holland. They are going to sell 1 million drones this year worldwide. Telling customers it's going to take 4-6 weeks to get their malfunctioning drone back is poor business and ethics practice. Same goes for when the Mavic was released. Taking peoples money for a preorder, and then not being able to produce the paid for products for months is criminal. Lily Robotics pulled one over on 60,000 customers, keeping all their prepaid order money. I thought that was going to happen to DJI until they finally started shipping out Mavics 3 months after promised.

Let's hope that the Spark comes out on June 15 and actually ships per promise.

Rant over.

 

[Advexure]

DJI is already dominating the market with 70% market share worldwide.

Rob - Where have you seen the 70% market share number? Not questioning...just wondering

 

[Former Member]

Rob - Where have you seen the 70% market share number? Not questioning...just wondering

That was 2016 before 3dr dropped out. Back then DJI was 67%, 3dr was 19%. Parrot 7%, Yuneec 7%.
For 2017 I bet it's going to be DJI 96%, Yuneec 4% if they are able to work out their operating problems.

Here's one:

How DJI has crushed the consumer drone industry, and the rivals that could still take flight

Here's another:

DJI is running away with the drone market

 

[SkunkWerx's]

DJI is already dominating the market with 70% market share worldwide. French maker Parrot will soon be gone after mass layoffs, Gopro is now insignificant in the drone market and it's stock price has tumbled from $80 per share in 2015 to $5 per share with no help in sight. Yuneec was one of our only hopes for competition with DJI, it got $60 million funding from Intel in 2015, but squandered it and lost pace with DJI with outdated products. Now it is having trouble meeting it's operating expenses, and is laying off a good number of it's employees due to an unexpected sales decline (aka Mavic). All of DJI's competition might soon be gone, and DJI didnt even buy a single one of them. Amazing story.

DJI might go from dominating the market to being a monopoly. That is a very difficult thing to do in the business world considering they didnt merge with or buy any smaller companies to acquire market share, they did it by being revolutionaries. They got their own private funding and spent it wisely on engineering, at the same time Yuneec did. DJI won that battle. This year DJI has a market value of $10 billion dollars, annual revenues of $1.6 billion, and operating profits of $460 million.

If you told me this story and it was about any other company, I would say. "hooray, Go Team!" But I am not happy being a DJI customer, although I do love their products. Tech support's answer to most questions is, "send it in." That's fine except that they only have 1 repair facility to cover the whole of the USA, and 1 repair facility in Europe in Holland. They are going to sell 1 million drones this year worldwide. Telling customers it's going to take 4-6 weeks to get their malfunctioning drone back is poor business and ethics practice. Same goes for when the Mavic was released. Taking peoples money for a preorder, and then not being able to produce the paid for products for months is criminal.

Let's hope that the Spark comes out on June 15 and actually ships per promise.

Rant over.

I have something like a Love Hate relationship with DJI
You guess which one more lolllll

 

[Former Member]

With the Phantom 3 line being phased out, that makes the Mavic the cheapest DJI prosumer drone at a pricetag of $1000. The Spark will probably blow away everything else in it's price range just from repeat DJI buyers who like DJI quality.

DJI is a tighly held company and Frank Wang doesnt like to give away equity. Something tells me he isnt in it for the money, but he makes alot of it. If he were to take the company public, by the end of 2017 DJI could have a $15 billion market value, and if profits continue to grow with revenues, the stock would skyrocket on IPO. I would only do a day trade if it did

 

[SkunkWerx's]

Day Trade ????? How much you want me to chip in lollllll

 

[Former Member]

Day Trade ????? How much you want me to chip in lollllll

They have to do an IPO first, but that's doubtful. They are flush with cash, are a market leader, and I dont think that Frank Wang would like to have to report to a board of directors even if he were CEO and Chairman of the Board.

I wish there were a bigger fish to swallow up DJI and make them clean up their act in terms of customer care. Love their product, hate their lack of organization and communication.

 

[GerdS]

There is still space for even smaller drones than Spark, below the 250g limit. If I want a real handy drone which fits into my pocket then I would prefer something foldable such as a successor of Dobby over a Spark. A Dobby II shall come out within the next two months and I stay tuned if they have improved their camera to be worth buying it as that "always with me" drone.

 

[Former Member]

There is still space for even smaller drones than Spark, below the 250g limit. If I want a real handy drone which fits into my pocket then I would prefer something foldable such as a successor of Dobby over a Spark. A Dobby II shall come out within the next two months and I stay tuned if they have improved their camera to be worth buying it as that "always with me" drone.

The Dobby is what the Spark should have been with foldable arms.The Dobby does need at least a 2 axis gimbal, controller for greater range, and better software to compete.

 

[SkunkWerx's]

They have to do an IPO first, but that's doubtful. They are flush with cash, are a market leader, and I dont think that Frank Wang would like to have to report to a board of directors even if he were CEO and Chairman of the Board.

I wish there were a bigger fish to swallow up DJI and make them clean up their act in terms of customer care. Love their product, hate their lack of organization and communication.

I Fully agree with you , I would gladly pay more for a better product, sooner or later a bigger fish does come along hopefully it will be a US company and made in the US even though the electronics are made in china and more then likely China reverse engineer's the circuitry
and claim it as there own <-------- I say this because I work in the AI industry in the US for US companies and Electronic Circuit Boards that we have manufactured over in China are purposely designed not to function because of the above mentioned.
DJI innovated the Drone system they did not invent it , Basically the same as we hobbyist innovate upon our own systems by adding or removing component's.
The Technology , Electronics and knowledge has been let out of the Bag for quite some time now.
FlySafe-FlyFree

 

[Former Member]

sooner or later a bigger fish does come along hopefully it will be a US company and made in the US even though the electronics are made in china and more then likely China reverse engineer's the circuitry and claim it as there own

The bigger fish would be Apple in DJI's case, and it would be possible for Apple to buy or merge with DJI, but the way Frank Wang likes to hoard equity, and is a control freak, I only see a possible symbiotic relationship with Apple. Many DJI owners have found that Apple devices dont crash as much as Android.

 

[GooniesNeverDie]

It's totally possible with the sales opportunity that Apple start their own Drone business. But who knows.

 

[Former Member]

Apple already sells a few brands of drones, but I dont see them partnering with any of the existing companies. When Gopro tried to partner with DJI, Gopro got the short end of the stick.

 

[Former Member]

I wish Samsung would partner up with one of the frontrunners of DJI's competition but seems they are only interested in higher end commercial drones. What a shame. Would be great to have an integrated S8 app flying a Dobby-like drone. No app crashes!

 

[Kilrah]

Apple will never go in the drone business IMO. They like to concentrate on a very narrow product range where they have significant room to improve in order to distinguish themselves - drones have nothing to do with their core business and the cutting edge innovator's slot is more than filled.

And DJI will never go public. Being able to fully control your company and keep the benefits is the dream of any entrepreneur and there aren't many who are lucky enough to be able to do it as well as them. You only bring in investors if you have no choice because you need the money or want it to try and pursue new opportunities, but they definitely don't need that.

 

[Former Member]

And DJI will never go public. Being able to fully control your company and keep the benefits is the dream of any entrepreneur and there aren't many who are lucky enough to be able to do it as well as them. You only bring in investors if you have no choice because you need the money, they definitely don't.

You say that "Being able to fully control your company and keep the benefits is the dream of any entrepreneur," and thats exactly what it is, a dream. And DJI's boss is a dreamer because he is good at some things, and horrible at others. You cant build a company and ignore your customer base. They need to ramp up customer service, decrease their repair turnaround time, and get their drones to be compatible and reliable across multiple platforms. And most of all quit lying to their customers.

Yes DJI is doing a few things well for themselves including bringing great products to the market, and hoarding their equity. Hoarding equity is like a kid not wanting to share his candy with others. DJI's boss thinks he is doing everything right, that he is perfect, and that's why he is not giving up any equity. It's not about the money for him, it's the control, and that's where he is making a big mistake.

Do you think DJI is a well run and organized multi-billion dollar company? Any company can go out and make promises to people and then fall through on their promises. DJI's engineering and innovation departments are light years ahead of their organizational abilities. You cant have a company selling as many products as they can just because they are marvelous products, and then ignore the followup demands that that growth entails. DJI has a huge budget for engineering, but their tech support staff is clueless, and their repair department is the most pitiful of any company I have ever known or dealt with. This is a great example of a CEO who needs a strategic partner to help DJI clean up it's act and improve it's reputation with the people who support it.

Whats most amazing to me is that DJI still has any friends in the industry. The last debacle with delayed Mavic production left tens of thousands of customers and DJI's biggest distributors holding the bag. That's bad business and can tarnish a companies reputation forever. DJI seems immune to that, and has a defiant and defensive stance about it, and DJI's customers have short memories as to what went on last year with production delays, and parts shortages, and still goes on today. I see people lining up to buy the Spark, already knowing that the white will ship first, and other colors later. Say that again DJI? When you announce a product shipping date, you need to stick to it.

Most startup entrepreneurs dont have the wherewithal to take their companies to the next level. Most have a great concept, but lack other skills such as marketing, production, or organization. DJI needs to get bought by a company that values their customers, giving help where needed, and keeping the company on not only a profitable track, but strengthen their organizational structure as well.

Frank should take a back seat and work harder on innovation, advancing DJI's technology, and building relationships with new players, as he has been doing.

 

[newnan3]

Im curious to see what if anything gopro does drone-wise from this point....

Surely theyve learned something from making the karma. Perhaps they could develop something relevant....Of course DJI would design and bring it to market faster but they could try lol

 

[Former Member]

Im curious to see what if anything gopro does drone-wise from this point....

Surely theyve learned something from making the karma. Perhaps they could develop something relevant....Of course DJI would design and bring it to market faster but they could try lol

Things arent looking too good for Gopro. It's really a shame because I loved Gopro as a company. They were the revolutionaries and the household name in tough water resistant cameras for a long time. They cared about their customers, their equipment was top notch, and you felt good owning one.

I dont think that anyone is going to bail out Gopro at this point.

GoPro's Two Biggest Hopes Just Got Dashed

 

[Kilrah]

You say that "Being able to fully control your company and keep the benefits is the dream of any entrepreneur," and thats exactly what it is, a dream.

You cant build a company and ignore your customer base. They need to ramp up customer service, decrease their repair turnaround time, and get their drones to be compatible and reliable across multiple platforms. And most of all quit lying to their customers.

I'm talking of the business side of it, and he definitely has that dream realized. Yes there are shortcomings but that doesn't change the fact hat the business is hugely successful and people still queue to throw their money at them as soon as they can. I doubt the support matters do hurt their bottom line with any significance.

You cant have a company selling as many products as they can just because they are marvelous products, and then ignore the followup demands that that growth entails.

You sure can - we have the proof right there. This forum is full of people complaining about DJI's lacks yet they all own the latest DJI product and continue buying new ones anyway.

When you announce a product shipping date, you need to stick to it.

Nearly every major company I've dealt with in the last year or 2 has blown delivey dates to some extent, so it's not really that surprising anymore. That's "modern marketing" for you...

DJI needs to get bought by a company that values their customers, giving help where needed, and keeping the company on not only a profitable track, but strengthen their organizational structure as well.

That makes absolutely no sense. Why should someone need buy them or take a share in the company to do that? They can just hire some good employees or consultants to help fix things in lacking areas, no selling or sharing equity involved. Or simply just start caring about it a bit more, because IMO they know full well about the issues, just are taking a well informed decision that for their business it is not the most important thing currently needed because [see above].