Lily, the automated camera drone that follows users around, reportedly managed to hit 60,000 units sold by the end of 2015 — raking in $34 million in preorders before the thing has even released.
Making that all the more impressive is the fact that Lily started showing up on the greater tech media radar in May 2015, meaning that it only had seven months of the year to accomplish that feat. The company is still taking preorders, and seemingly will up until Lily launches sometime in summer 2016.
The way Lily works is fairly simple. The user has a small tracking device on their person, tosses Lily into the air, and boom — Lily starts following that tracking device, capturing lovely footage of the person it’s on in the process. There are several different following modes, including one that actually leads ahead of the tracking device, one that follows behind and one that does so from the side.
In addition to the typical follow modes, Lily can also be made to circle around the tracking device, making for a nice, if a bit disorienting, 360 view. Plus, like with most cameras that record footage these days, it can also capture stills if the mood so strikes the user.
While currently available to preorder for $799 plus shipping and all that, Lily will eventually retail at $999 when it launches. It’s a not-insignificant cost for a camera that follows you around as you do cool stuff, but then again, it’s a camera that follows you around as you do cool stuff.
Source: TechCrunch
