Zano Drone's Rise and Fall: A Cautionary Tale

The Zano drone was first unveiled in 2014, but it wasn't until 2015 that it started shipping to customers.

The drone's unique design and affordable price made it an attractive option for many consumers.

However, the Zano drone had a short lifespan and was discontinued in 2016 due to technical issues and poor performance.

The company behind the drone, Zano Technologies, struggled to deliver on its promises and failed to meet customer expectations.

The Zano drone's failure was a cautionary tale about crowdfunding and believing the hype when a project seems too good to be true.

It raised £2.3 million on Kickstarter, but only four drones were mailed out to backers before its maker, Torquing, folded.

The drone's maker, Torquing, couldn't meet its own ambitions and rushed out an inadequate version, leading to significant losses.

The project was plagued by failure, earning it the reputation as Europe's most well-funded Kickstarter project to fail.

The drone's failure was a result of the company's inability to fulfill nearly all of the backer orders, forcing it to liquidate.

I've learned that the Zano drone was a highly anticipated product with a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising over $3.4 million in just 30 days.

The drone's modular design allowed for easy customization and upgradeability, but it also made it prone to technical issues.

One of the biggest challenges with the Zano drone was its tendency to lose signal and disconnect from the controller, making it difficult to maintain a stable connection.

The drone's 8MP camera and 13MP camera on the controller allowed for high-quality photos and videos, but its video transmission was limited to 720p.

Unfortunately, the Zano drone's battery life was relatively short, lasting only around 10-15 minutes of flight time.

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The Zano drone project raised $3 million on Kickstarter, but ultimately failed to deliver on its promises.

The project was ambitious and well-hyped, which is why many people backed it in the first place.

The company behind Zano shut down the entire project a few weeks ago, unable to fulfill its campaign promises.

Kickstarter has hired freelance journalist Mark Harris to investigate the whole mess and report back to backers.

Harris will look into every stage of the project, from original funding to the present day, to see if the creators could have acted differently or if Kickstarter dropped the ball at any stage.

The Zano drone's revival is a long shot, but Vernon Kerswell of Extreme Fliers is trying to make it happen by acquiring the assets and making it open-source.

The drone's initial Kickstarter project failed to deliver, despite receiving $3 million in funding.

Kerswell's plan is to revive the Zano drone as an open-source project, which might give it a new lease on life.

Kickstarter itself isn't happy about the project's failure and has hired a journalist to investigate the whole mess.

The company wants to help the backers of the failed project get the information they're entitled to under their agreement with the project creator.

The journalist, Mark Harris, has been tasked with uncovering the story of Zano from its inception to the present.

Harris has been given the freedom to write the story without any input from Kickstarter or the project creators.

The Zano drone project was a complex and ambitious undertaking that ultimately ended in disappointment for its backers. It was being manufactured in Wales, but there was no fully operational product available for the media to see.

Arstechnica and BBC got a behind-the-scenes look at the facility during the summer, but they were met with delays and excuses. Shipping was supposed to have started by then, but it hadn't.

Ivan Reedman, the lead engineer on the project, left his position last month. This was a significant blow to the project, and it's no surprise that customers lost faith and a Change.org petition was started.

The plug was eventually pulled on the project, but not before it had raised hopes and expectations. The crowdfunding process can be unpredictable and unforgiving, and the Zano project was a prime example of this.

The Zano drone's project was ditched by its creator, Torquing Group, after it had collected 2.3 million pounds from Kickstarter.

Torquing Group has denied allegations that they misappropriated funds, saying they were used for stock and manufacturing, and gross wages.

The company used 46 percent of the funds for stock and manufacturing and another 14 percent for gross wages.

Torquing Group's board apologized for the lack of communication and said they had to operate with caution after deciding to pursue a voluntary liquidation of Zano assets.

The company had initially hoped to ship all ordered drones by December 14, but the project was cancelled just a month later.

The Zano project was cancelled due to upgrades designed to improve the drone, which coupled with delays, had significant financial and timeline impacts.

Torquing Group has not responded to requests from the community to ship produced units to backers in an "as is" condition.

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