谷歌、Facebook争相收购无人机之谜

    上个月有几周，形势似乎一目了然：Facebook将收购远距离太阳能无人机制造商泰坦航空（Titan Aerospace），利用后者的技术，向世界偏远地区提供网络服务。此举表面上是为了应对谷歌（Google）利用热气球作为网络基站的Project Loon项目。这个项目可能使谷歌，而不是Facebook，获得十亿新增互联网用户。

    然而如今的局势却令人费解。最后是谷歌、而不是Facebook，收购了泰坦航空，而Facebook则收购了另一家位于英国的太阳能无人机新创企业——Ascenta。至于说谷歌和Facebook这两家硅谷巨头未来会怎么利用新获得的无人机技术？尚不清楚。不过，有一点很清楚：虽然向全球偏远地区提供网络连接对Facebook和谷歌都有利，但两大巨头争相收购无人机技术，图的绝不只有这么一点。至于说它们图的到底是什么，那就比较难判断了。

    Lux Research研究总监马克•邦杰说：“大家必须把它看成更广泛的经营战略的一部分。谷歌与Facebook正在争夺战略制高点——亚马逊（Amazon）显然也在这样做。我认为，对于无人机技术将在哪个领域起重要作用，他们有很多想法。但眼下，谁也没办法准确判断究竟会是哪个领域。换言之，他们不知道无人机技术究竟将应用于什么领域，但他们知道自己必须参与其中。”

    Facebook的动机很简单：跟随战略。多年来，竞争对手谷歌一直在致力于通过Project Loon项目，为世界偏远地区提供网络连接。这个项目利用高空飞行的气球上悬挂的互联网枢纽，为新西兰没有网络连接的地区提供带宽。邦杰表示，Facebook涉足商业化无人机技术并不是什么破天荒的举动，而仅仅是照葫芦画瓢。

    邦杰说：“谷歌一直致力于研发无人驾驶汽车，还收购了智能家居公司Nest。假如大家仅仅只是把谷歌看成搜索引擎公司的话，它的这些举动不免令人惊讶，不过如今应该没有人这样看了。”Facebook知道，如果它想在方兴未艾的物联网中保持重要地位，它需要扩展到软件领域之外，进军硬件产业。而无人机就是一个切入点。

    无人机也是绕过移动运营商的一种方式，而在部分发展中国家，正是运营商给Facebook造成了一些麻烦，尤其是在某些国家，Facebook试图谈判“零费率”方案，使客户能使用Facebook的一些产品，而不会对他们的手机上网流量产生影响。如果Facebook真的彻底完成通过自有互联网无人机连接十亿新增互联网用户的宏伟计划，它将不仅能绕过那些不合作的移动运营商，而且能推动这些新用户使用Facebook的产品，比如它最近收购的通讯应用程序WhatsApp。

    For a few weeks last month, it seemed clear enough: Facebook (FB) would acquire the long-range solar-powered drone maker Titan Aerospace and use its technology to deliver Internet to remote areas of the world. It was ostensibly a hedge against Google's balloon-driven Project Loon and the possibility that Google (GOOG), rather than Facebook, would connect the "next billion" Internet users.

    Today that picture is opaque at best. Google -- not Facebook -- is buying Titan Aerospace, and Facebook has acquired a different U.K.-based solar-powered drones startup called Ascenta. And an answer to the question of how exactly the two Silicon Valley giants will leverage their new technology? Still elusive. What is clear is that while delivering connectivity to far-flung parts of the globe is advantageous for both Facebook and Google, the race to acquire unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, technology is about much more.

    Exactly what, well, that's more difficult to discern.

    "You definitely have to look at it as part of a broader business strategy," says Mark Bünger, research director at Lux Research. "The two of them are shooting for the strategic high ground here -- Amazon is obviously doing this, too. I think they have a lot of ideas for what it's going to be important for, but I think right now anyone would have a hard time accurately saying what that's going to be. In other words, they don't know exactly what it's going to be for, they just know that it's important that they're there."

    For Facebook, the incentive is simple: catch up. Rival Google has been developing a means to provide Internet connectivity to remote regions of the world for years now through Project Loon, which uses Internet hubs suspended from high-flying balloons to provide bandwidth to areas of New Zealand that are off the wired grid. Facebook isn't breaking new ground by getting into commercialized drone technology, Bünger says, just keeping up.

    "Google has been working on the autonomous vehicles, the Nest acquisition, and a bunch of other stuff that's surprising if you think of them as a search engine company -- which hopefully nobody does anymore," Bünger says. Facebook knows that if it wants to remain a major presence in the emerging Internet of things, it will need to extend beyond software and into hardware. Drones are one means of doing so.

    UAS are also a means of bypassing mobile carriers, which have given Facebook some trouble in parts of the developing world, particularly where the company has attempted to negotiate "zero-rate" deals that allow customers to use some of Facebook's offerings without it counting against their data plans. If Facebook does follow through with its ambitious plans to connect the next billion people through Facebook-owned Internet drones, Facebook can not only bypass mobile carriers that don't want to play ball, but also push those new users toward Facebook offerings like its recently acquired messaging app What'sApp.