On Thursday, January 22, local time, Google's parent company alpha announced the closure of the balloon networking project loon. But the company doesn't see the project as a failure, calling it a "successful experiment.".

Loon's problem has nothing to do with technology, but the Department can't find a way to make a profit. Because even in underserved areas, more and more people are connecting to the Internet through other ways. At present, 93% of the people in the world have access to the Internet, and the remaining few people either can't afford the 4G mobile phones that Loon needs or are not interested in accessing the Internet.

Alphabet believes Loon's business model is unsustainable and says it can't reduce costs enough to continue to operate. "Although we have found many partners willing to work with along the way, we have not yet found a way to reduce costs and build a long-term sustainable business," said Astro teller, chief executive of loon

"It turns out that the road to commercial viability is much longer and more risky than expected," Taylor added. So we made a tough decision to close loon. In the next few months, we will start to gradually reduce the size of this project. It will no longer be one of the "other bets" within alphabet

Google's parent company alphabet launched loon in June 2013. Its goal is to fly around the earth with hot-air balloons and provide Internet access to underserved areas. At first, many people doubted the prospect of the project, but its technology was constantly improving, with balloons staying in the air longer and sending signals directly to mobile phones.

In 2018, Loon was spun off from X lab and became an independent subsidiary of alphabet. Before the closure, Loon had already started commercial deployment. The company launched its first commercial Internet service in Kenya last July, with a fleet of about 35 balloons covering an area of about 50000 square kilometers.

Loon also provides Internet services for areas affected by natural disasters, including deployment of balloons in hurricane hit Puerto Rico in 2017 and balloon networking in earthquake hit Peru in 2019.

Mr Taylor said Loon was trying to arrange for its staff to take up other positions at x labs, Google and alphabet. "Only a small part of the loon team will stay to ensure the safe and smooth operation of Loon, and we will gradually reduce Loon's pilot service in Kenya," he said A spokesman for X lab said Loon's service in Kenya will last until March.

To support those in Kenya who may be affected by Loon's service interruption, Loon has promised to provide us $10 million to support Kenya's non-profit organizations and enterprises committed to "networking, Internet, entrepreneurship and education".

Loon is not the only crazy bet that alpha has closed down that comes from X lab. Last year, the company shut down makani, which aims to use wind turbines mounted on kites to generate renewable power. In addition, alphabet shut down foghorn in 2016, which focuses on how to extract clean fuel from seawater. (small)

Source: Netease technology report, translated by Baidu