Verizon has stunned industry experts by announcing that it will be winding down and ending operations of its Skyward drone management business in the coming weeks, shuttering a subsidiary it recently purchased in 2017.
The shock of discovering of Verizon’s sudden decision to close Skyward was amplified by the fact that the news was divulged in an email sent to Skyward clients, the content of which quickly circulated online. Following that, the business issued a statement describing the move as a desire to focus on greater near-term growth initiatives – a rationale that some drone industry observers found strange given the rapidly flowering promise of commercial UAV operation.
According to some estimates, the worldwide UAV market will be worth more than $80 billion by next year.
Verizon wrote in an email to “our greatest partners” that it was “not an easy decision” to shut down Skyward, whose Drone Management Platform will no longer be supported or available after June 30.
From there, the statement stated, “the Verizon Robotics team will be focusing on our efforts on ground robot management, connection services, and solution development.” “We really regret the difficulty this will bring you.”
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