Are you ready for what looks to be an inevitable part of our future? Viz. getting impulse DVD purchases and smartwatches delivered via multi-rotor drone? Amazon thinks we are, but is also giving us 2-3 years notice. Probably longer for us here in Australia.
On a recent edition of the US version of 60 Minutes, Amazon announced it was testing the drones. The promise is that, by 2015, these things will be out there, sitting on conveyor belts waiting for orders to deliver something within a 15-20 kilometre radius.
This first generation of drones can only carry packages weighing up to 2.2kg - that might sound like a bit of a restriction, but Amazon says a whopping 86% of current orders weigh less than that.
Of course all this drone delivery shenanigans will be rolled out in the US first, subject to a new round of FAA regulations. But Australia is set to make drones much easier to license and use - ostensibly for agriculture and mining, but who knows.
When you order your favourite Crust pizza for delivery in 2020, it might come with an SMS reminder to leave a window open...
