作為全球民用無(wú)人機(jī)行業(yè)龍頭，總部設(shè)在深圳的大疆創(chuàng)新迎來(lái)了一位新的“駕駛員”，總之至少是一位新的“聯(lián)合駕駛員”。

這家生產(chǎn)出“精靈”和“御”等熱門(mén)無(wú)人機(jī)的廠商宣布，已將電子產(chǎn)品行業(yè)資深高管羅鎮(zhèn)華任命為公司總裁，接替大疆創(chuàng)始人汪滔負(fù)責(zé)日常運(yùn)營(yíng)。

汪滔是無(wú)人機(jī)愛(ài)好者，2006年在香港的學(xué)生宿舍里成立了大疆創(chuàng)新。他仍是公司首席執(zhí)行官以及最大股東（持股遠(yuǎn)超其他股東），并將繼續(xù)監(jiān)督大疆的產(chǎn)品開(kāi)發(fā)。大疆的高管指出，羅鎮(zhèn)華升任總裁體現(xiàn)了汪滔返回實(shí)驗(yàn)室的意愿，他想重新定義并擴(kuò)展大疆的技術(shù)，而技術(shù)正是大疆成為全球最大無(wú)人機(jī)廠商的根本因素。

汪滔在任命羅鎮(zhèn)華的公告中表示：“大疆目前在全世界有超過(guò)1.1萬(wàn)名員工，在全球17座城市設(shè)有辦事機(jī)構(gòu)。隨著全球業(yè)務(wù)的不斷擴(kuò)大，我們需要在經(jīng)營(yíng)方面增強(qiáng)管理團(tuán)隊(duì)的實(shí)力?！?

大疆的精靈四軸無(wú)人機(jī)2013年問(wèn)世，一經(jīng)推出就備受愛(ài)好者和專(zhuān)業(yè)攝影師青睞，可謂消費(fèi)級(jí)無(wú)人機(jī)行業(yè)的創(chuàng)立者。它的高端“悟”無(wú)人機(jī)近7磅（約3.15公斤）重，價(jià)格超過(guò)3000美元（19980元人民幣），一直是航空攝影硬核愛(ài)好者的首選。

去年11月大疆推出了御Mavic Pro無(wú)人機(jī)，從而進(jìn)入了一個(gè)比以前大得多的市場(chǎng)。這款緊湊型產(chǎn)品的重量不到2磅（約0.9公斤），支持4K分辨率，可連續(xù)飛行27分鐘，有效控制距離達(dá)7公里，價(jià)格不超過(guò)1000美元（6660元人民幣）。

大疆沒(méi)有公布銷(xiāo)售數(shù)據(jù)。但羅鎮(zhèn)華表示，推出三天內(nèi)收到的Mavic Pro訂單是該公司預(yù)測(cè)的全月訂單量的三倍。大疆征服了這個(gè)參與者眾多的領(lǐng)域，其中不乏資金充裕的歐美競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，包括總部設(shè)在加州圣馬特奧的GoPro，后者未能按照承諾推出水平相當(dāng)?shù)臒o(wú)人機(jī)。

今年5月，大疆推出了“曉”無(wú)人機(jī)。它不像御飛的那么遠(yuǎn)，那么快，分辨率也沒(méi)有御高，配備的電池較小，只能飛行15分鐘。但“曉”只有易拉罐那么大，價(jià)格也只有500美元（3330元人民幣）左右，而且可以用簡(jiǎn)單的手勢(shì)進(jìn)行控制。“曉”的銷(xiāo)量同樣遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)大疆的預(yù)期。

羅鎮(zhèn)華拒絕透露大疆下一款產(chǎn)品的詳細(xì)情況。但他明確表示，大疆的策略是較低的價(jià)格和較高的銷(xiāo)量。他說(shuō)：“就連‘曉’的價(jià)格也不是那么親民。我們想讓產(chǎn)品有更親民的價(jià)格，同時(shí)繼續(xù)提供同樣的頂尖技術(shù)，這樣就能讓更多的人享用我們的技術(shù)?！?

要實(shí)施這樣的策略，大疆就得快速擴(kuò)大業(yè)務(wù)規(guī)模。羅鎮(zhèn)華似乎是執(zhí)行這項(xiàng)任務(wù)的理想人選——他在臺(tái)灣大學(xué)和美國(guó)圣塔克拉拉大學(xué)獲得工程學(xué)位，并曾在蘋(píng)果公司、西門(mén)子、明基電通和富士康擔(dān)任工程、運(yùn)營(yíng)和產(chǎn)品管理等高級(jí)職務(wù)。

羅鎮(zhèn)華2015年加入大疆，此前他在富士康任職，這家臺(tái)灣大型企業(yè)是iPhone的主要代工廠商。在富士康，羅鎮(zhèn)華負(fù)責(zé)的業(yè)務(wù)部門(mén)有逾2.5萬(wàn)名員工。他進(jìn)入大疆時(shí)，這家無(wú)人機(jī)公司的運(yùn)營(yíng)部門(mén)只有2200人。但羅鎮(zhèn)華說(shuō)，大疆在運(yùn)營(yíng)方面遇到的挑戰(zhàn)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)富士康。大疆比富士康增長(zhǎng)的快，而且產(chǎn)品周期要短得多——大疆的產(chǎn)品周期為3-6個(gè)月，而富士康為1年左右。無(wú)人機(jī)技術(shù)比手機(jī)復(fù)雜，而且無(wú)法準(zhǔn)確預(yù)測(cè)新產(chǎn)品的需求。

大疆認(rèn)為，如果可以把產(chǎn)品價(jià)格壓到500美元（3330元人民幣）以下，消費(fèi)級(jí)無(wú)人機(jī)的市場(chǎng)就絕不會(huì)飽和。

調(diào)研機(jī)構(gòu)Gartner預(yù)計(jì)，今年全球無(wú)人機(jī)銷(xiāo)量將增至300萬(wàn)架，市場(chǎng)收入將達(dá)到60億美元（399.6億元人民幣），比2016年上升34%。商用無(wú)人飛行器市場(chǎng)研究公司Skylogic Research估算，大疆在500-1000美元無(wú)人機(jī)市場(chǎng)處于領(lǐng)先位置，市場(chǎng)份額為36%，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)同類(lèi)企業(yè)——排名第二的3D Robotics占有19%的市場(chǎng)份額。此外，由《連線》雜志前編輯克里斯·安德森領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的3D Robotics在幾乎燒掉1000億美元風(fēng)投資金后，已經(jīng)放棄了制造無(wú)人機(jī)的夢(mèng)想。

3D Robotics前首席收入官克林·吉恩去年10月接受采訪時(shí)說(shuō)：“我們意識(shí)到，一家設(shè)在硅谷、以軟件為主的公司和一家在中國(guó)的、強(qiáng)大的垂直整合制造企業(yè)進(jìn)行競(jìng)爭(zhēng)根本就是難上加難?！?

本月早些時(shí)候，3D Robotics宣布它的Site Scan軟件平臺(tái)將和大疆進(jìn)行整合，從而在圖像-數(shù)據(jù)轉(zhuǎn)換方面兼容大疆無(wú)人機(jī)。3D Robotics還發(fā)布了新的企業(yè)無(wú)人機(jī)數(shù)據(jù)平臺(tái)，大疆則認(rèn)為這個(gè)領(lǐng)域有非常多的增長(zhǎng)機(jī)會(huì)。

大疆把目光投向企業(yè)無(wú)人機(jī)領(lǐng)域不難理解。Gartner估算，目前個(gè)人無(wú)人機(jī)占市場(chǎng)銷(xiāo)量的90%以上，但只占市場(chǎng)收入的40%。羅鎮(zhèn)華稱(chēng)，大疆剛剛開(kāi)始探索房地產(chǎn)、采礦、搜救以及設(shè)備維保等行業(yè)使用無(wú)人機(jī)的途徑。

今年2月大疆發(fā)布了經(jīng)緯M200無(wú)人機(jī)，后者專(zhuān)門(mén)用于探查橋梁、輸電鐵塔等難以攀爬的建筑。羅鎮(zhèn)華認(rèn)為，企業(yè)無(wú)人機(jī)最有前途的領(lǐng)域之一是農(nóng)業(yè)，在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域，每年都有許多人因噴灑農(nóng)藥而喪生，使用無(wú)人機(jī)則會(huì)讓這項(xiàng)工作變得更加安全。同事們透露，以動(dòng)手能力和討厭成為焦點(diǎn)而著稱(chēng)的汪滔將監(jiān)督這些產(chǎn)品的開(kāi)發(fā)，同時(shí)關(guān)注其他發(fā)展機(jī)遇。8月6日，36歲的汪滔以他標(biāo)志性的山羊胡+貝雷帽形象罕見(jiàn)地公開(kāi)露面——他在深圳灣體育中心主持了大疆每年都承辦的大學(xué)生機(jī)器人賽事——Robomaster機(jī)甲大師賽。參賽選手來(lái)自200多所高校，用來(lái)對(duì)戰(zhàn)的機(jī)器人和無(wú)人機(jī)均由這些選手自行制作和編程。在一片閃光燈和漫天的彩色紙屑中，汪滔和深圳市政府官員把20萬(wàn)元人民幣的巨大支票頒發(fā)給了獲得勝利的華南理工大學(xué)團(tuán)隊(duì)。當(dāng)鏡頭靠攏上來(lái)，得獎(jiǎng)?wù)咴诿襟w面前擺出愉悅姿態(tài)時(shí)，汪滔的臉上閃過(guò)一絲笑意，然后靜靜地離他們而去。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）?

譯者：Charlie

審稿：夏林

The world's leading civilian drone company is getting a new pilot—or at least a new co-pilot, anyway.

Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI), the Shenzhen, China-based manufacturer of the popular Phantom and Mavic aerial drones, announced? that veteran electronics industry executive Roger Luo has been appointed president and will assume day-to-day operational responsibilities from founder Frank Wang.

Wang, the model plane enthusiast who founded DJI in his Hong Kong dorm room in 2006, will remain CEO and is (by far) the company's largest shareholder. He will continue to oversee DJI product development. Senior executives at DJI say Luo's promotion reflects Wang's desire to get back to the lab to refine and expand the technologies that helped to make DJI the world's biggest drone maker in the first place.

"DJI now has over 11,000 staff worldwide, with offices in 17 cities around the world," Wang said in a statement announcing Luo's appointment. "As we continue to expand our global footprint, we need to strengthen our management in the area of operations."

DJI's Phantom quadcopters, released in 2013, were an instant hit among hobbyists and professional photographers, and essentially created the consumer drone industry. The company's premium Inspire model, which weights nearly 7 pounds and costs upwards of $3,000, remains the drone of choice among hard-core aerial photography enthusiasts.

But DJI tapped a far larger market last November with the introduction the Mavic Pro, a compact drone weighing less than 2 pounds but offering 4K video resolution, flight times of up to 27 minutes and a control range of up to 7 kilometers—all for less than $1,000.

The company doesn't release sales data but Luo says that, within three days after releasing the Mavic, DJI had received three times more orders for the model than it had expected to sell the entire month. DJI vanquished a crowded field of well-funded U.S. and European competitors, including San Mateo, California-based GoPro, who were unable to deliver on promises to roll out comparable drones.

In May, DJI released the Spark, a drone that doesn't fly as far or as fast as the Mavic, offers video resolution that isn't quite as sharp, and uses smaller batteries that allow hang times of only 15 minutes. But the Spark is as small as a soda can, costs only about $500 and can be controlled with simple hand gestures. Sales for the Spark, too, are soaring well beyond DJI's expectations.

Luo declines to discuss specifics of DJI's next product release. But he makes clear that DJI's strategy will involve lower-prices and higher sales volumes. "Even the Spark's price is not so friendly for consumers," he said. "We want to have products with friendlier prices that still offer the same great technology so that our technology can be enjoyed by more people."

To deliver on that strategy, DJI will need to ramp up operations fast. Luo, who earned engineering degrees from National Taiwan University and University of California, Santa Clara, and has held senior engineering, operations and product management roles at Apple, Siemens, BenQ and Foxconn, seems ideally suited to the task.

Luo joined DJI in 2015 from Foxconn, the gaint Taiwanese company that is the primary supplier for Apple's iPhones. The business unit Luo oversaw at Foxconn employed more than 25,000 people. When he moved to DJI, the drone maker's operations division employed just 2,200 people. But Luo says the operational challenges at DJI are far greater than those he faced at Foxconn. DJI is growing faster than Foxconn, and its product cycles are much shorter—three to six months at DJI, compared to about a year at Foxconn. The technology for drones is more complicated than that of phones, and predicting demand for new products can be anybody's guess.

DJI is betting that if they can push the price below the $500 mark, the market for consumer drones isn't anywhere close to saturation.

Gartner says global drone sales will rise to 3 million this year, with market revenue growing to $6 billion, a 34% increase over 2016. Skylogic Research estimated recently that DJI was by far the market leader for drones in the $500 to $1000 price rather, with a 36% of the market. The number two spot was held by 3D Robotics, with 19 percent share. But that company, led by former Wired editor Chris Anderson, has abandoned its drone-making ambitions after burning through almost $100 billion in venture capital funding.

"What we realized is that it's just going to be inherently much more difficult for a Silicon Valley-based, software-focused company to compete against a vertically integrated powerhouse manufacturing company in China," Colin Guinn, 3D Robotics former chief revenue officer told Forbes last October.

Earlier this month, 3D Robotics announced that it would integrate its Site Scan software platform with DJI to make it compatible with their drones to convert images into data. 3DR also announced the launch of a new data platform for drones used by businesses, an area where DJI sees enormous opportunity for growth.

It's not hard to see why DJI would have its eye on the enterprise drone segment. Gartner estimates that currently personal drones account for more than 90 percent of the market in unit sales but represent only 40 percent of the market's revenue. Luo says DJI has only begun to identify the ways in which drones can be used in sectors such as real state, mining, search and rescue and equipment maintenance and repair.

In February, DJI unveiled its Matrice 200 series of drones which are specifically designed for inspecting bridges, electrical towers and other hard-to-access structures. Luo argued that one of the most promising areas for enterprise drone use would be in agriculture, where many people die each year spraying pesticides that could be more safely dispersed by aerial drones.Wang, famed for his love of tinkering and aversion to the spotlight, will oversee development of those and other growth opportunities, say colleagues. Over the weekend the 36 year-old founder, sporting his trademark goatee and golf beret, made a rare public appearance at the Shenzhen Bay Stadium to preside over "Robomaster," DJI's annual contest for college engineers. The competition pits student teams from more than 200 universities in combat against each other using robots and drones they build and program themselves. Amid a hail of bright floodlights and confetti, Wang, flanked by leaders of the Shenzhen city government, presented a giant check for 200,000 renminbi (about $30,000) to the winning team, a group from South China University of Technology University from Guangzhou. As the cameras closed in and victors posed jubilantly for press, Wang flashed a half smile, and quietly slipped away.