Say goodbye to Lily camera, the drone that will fly by itself taking awesome video and pictures of you. This scenario, envisioned three years ago, has finally come to an end, no thanks to technical difficulties, funding, technologies that are becoming obsolete and etc.
Three years ago, when I saw the pre-order for Lily Cam, I ordered it immediately as it is very small in size (at that time) and is waterproof. Initially, there were many positive updates and months past, followed by years without an actual product. Many got frustrated and started to complain.
During this time, technology progresses rapidly. We saw GoPro Karma Drone in 2016 (which unfortunately did not survive the world due to technical fault) and then, the DJI Mavic Pro, in 2016 too, which changes many things in the drone world with its features.
Comparing to Lily Cam, these drones look more sophisticated, and more importantly, consumers can buy them immediately. I cancelled my Lily Cam immediately and I am glad I made this decision.
Recently, I went on a trip in Europe and was glad that I brought my Mavic Pro along. You can check out some footage over here (at the 2:14 mark). The Mavic Pro survived the negative 22 degrees temperature. I could not feel my fingers after flying it.
Overall, I feel that the idea of Lily Cam, is not a bad one (to start). The execution, if fast enough, might allow it to survive. Unfortunately, the founders chose to create a perfect product that can live up to their expectations which, in the end, did not materialize.
Those who had pre-ordered who get their refund soon. Here is an excerpt of the email sent to the Lily community.
In the past year, the Lily family has had many ups and downs. We have been delighted by the steady advancements in the quality of our product and have received great feedback from our Beta program. At the same time, we have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds. Over the past few months, we have tried to secure financing in order to unlock our manufacturing line and ship our first units – but have been unable to do this. As a result, we are deeply saddened to say that we are planning to wind down the company and offer refunds to customers (details below).
Click Here to read the full story. This is a sad but real scenario of entrepreneurship with a grand idea but without a realistic timeline.
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