Here’s something that came out of left field – Samsung has partnered with Manna Drone Delivery in Ireland to deliver Samsung gadgets to customers.
This service is the first of its kind for Samsung, but it has its limitations.
For one, customers will need to purchase a new Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, Galaxy Buds Pro, Galaxy Tab S7, Galaxy Watch 3 or a Galaxy A-series smartphone to qualify for drone delivery. Further to that, deliveries are limited to customers in the town of Oranmore.
While Manna Drone Delivery is keen to expand its service throughout Ireland, for now deliveries are limited by region.
There is one benefit to this – customers can get a handset delivered to them in three minutes.
“To be able to deliver our products to our customers within three minutes of leaving the dispatch center is a brilliant example of innovation in motion. Superior customer experience is at the heart of what we do and with this new service we are embracing what we believe will be the future of retail. In the current environment, there is no better time to provide a contactless alternative to ‘click and collect’ and we are really thrilled to be partnering Manna to achieve this,” said head of online for Samsung Ireland, Eamonn Grant.
The drones fly at an altitude of between 50 and 80 meters and at a speed of over 60kph. The drone fleet is autonomous according to Manna.
Manna says that it has worked with local businesses to delivery groceries, hot food, books and other items to people in Oranmore until now.
“We recognize that the potential for the application of drone delivery is enormous. Samsung is one of the most innovative and widely recognized brands globally that always puts its customers front and center. It’s for this reason we are genuinely excited to be embarking on this next chapter with them,” chief technology officer at Manna, Alan Hicks said in a statement.
While this is cool, it is a very limited application of drone delivery and we aren’t sure how successful it will be in the long-term.
Perhaps it will take off though.
