For a few weeks last month, it seemed clear enough: Facebook (FB) would acquire the long-range solar-powered drone maker Titan Aerospace and use its technology to deliver Internet to remote areas of the world. It was ostensibly a hedge against Google's balloon-driven Project Loon and the possibility that Google (GOOG), rather than Facebook, would connect the "next billion" Internet users.

    Today that picture is opaque at best. Google -- not Facebook -- is buying Titan Aerospace, and Facebook has acquired a different U.K.-based solar-powered drones startup called Ascenta. And an answer to the question of how exactly the two Silicon Valley giants will leverage their new technology? Still elusive. What is clear is that while delivering connectivity to far-flung parts of the globe is advantageous for both Facebook and Google, the race to acquire unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, technology is about much more.

    Exactly what, well, that's more difficult to discern.

    "You definitely have to look at it as part of a broader business strategy," says Mark Bünger, research director at Lux Research. "The two of them are shooting for the strategic high ground here -- Amazon is obviously doing this, too. I think they have a lot of ideas for what it's going to be important for, but I think right now anyone would have a hard time accurately saying what that's going to be. In other words, they don't know exactly what it's going to be for, they just know that it's important that they're there."

    For Facebook, the incentive is simple: catch up. Rival Google has been developing a means to provide Internet connectivity to remote regions of the world for years now through Project Loon, which uses Internet hubs suspended from high-flying balloons to provide bandwidth to areas of New Zealand that are off the wired grid. Facebook isn't breaking new ground by getting into commercialized drone technology, Bünger says, just keeping up.

    "Google has been working on the autonomous vehicles, the Nest acquisition, and a bunch of other stuff that's surprising if you think of them as a search engine company -- which hopefully nobody does anymore," Bünger says. Facebook knows that if it wants to remain a major presence in the emerging Internet of things, it will need to extend beyond software and into hardware. Drones are one means of doing so.

    UAS are also a means of bypassing mobile carriers, which have given Facebook some trouble in parts of the developing world, particularly where the company has attempted to negotiate "zero-rate" deals that allow customers to use some of Facebook's offerings without it counting against their data plans. If Facebook does follow through with its ambitious plans to connect the next billion people through Facebook-owned Internet drones, Facebook can not only bypass mobile carriers that don't want to play ball, but also push those new users toward Facebook offerings like its recently acquired messaging app What'sApp.

    上个月有几周，形势似乎一目了然：Facebook将收购远距离太阳能无人机制造商泰坦航空（Titan Aerospace），利用后者的技术，向世界偏远地区提供网络服务。此举表面上是为了应对谷歌（Google）利用热气球作为网络基站的Project Loon项目。这个项目可能使谷歌，而不是Facebook，获得十亿新增互联网用户。

    然而如今的局势却令人费解。最后是谷歌、而不是Facebook，收购了泰坦航空，而Facebook则收购了另一家位于英国的太阳能无人机新创企业——Ascenta。至于说谷歌和Facebook这两家硅谷巨头未来会怎么利用新获得的无人机技术？尚不清楚。不过，有一点很清楚：虽然向全球偏远地区提供网络连接对Facebook和谷歌都有利，但两大巨头争相收购无人机技术，图的绝不只有这么一点。至于说它们图的到底是什么，那就比较难判断了。

    Lux Research研究总监马克•邦杰说：“大家必须把它看成更广泛的经营战略的一部分。谷歌与Facebook正在争夺战略制高点——亚马逊（Amazon）显然也在这样做。我认为，对于无人机技术将在哪个领域起重要作用，他们有很多想法。但眼下，谁也没办法准确判断究竟会是哪个领域。换言之，他们不知道无人机技术究竟将应用于什么领域，但他们知道自己必须参与其中。”

    Facebook的动机很简单：跟随战略。多年来，竞争对手谷歌一直在致力于通过Project Loon项目，为世界偏远地区提供网络连接。这个项目利用高空飞行的气球上悬挂的互联网枢纽，为新西兰没有网络连接的地区提供带宽。邦杰表示，Facebook涉足商业化无人机技术并不是什么破天荒的举动，而仅仅是照葫芦画瓢。

    邦杰说：“谷歌一直致力于研发无人驾驶汽车，还收购了智能家居公司Nest。假如大家仅仅只是把谷歌看成搜索引擎公司的话，它的这些举动不免令人惊讶，不过如今应该没有人这样看了。”Facebook知道，如果它想在方兴未艾的物联网中保持重要地位，它需要扩展到软件领域之外，进军硬件产业。而无人机就是一个切入点。

    无人机也是绕过移动运营商的一种方式，而在部分发展中国家，正是运营商给Facebook造成了一些麻烦，尤其是在某些国家，Facebook试图谈判“零费率”方案，使客户能使用Facebook的一些产品，而不会对他们的手机上网流量产生影响。如果Facebook真的彻底完成通过自有互联网无人机连接十亿新增互联网用户的宏伟计划，它将不仅能绕过那些不合作的移动运营商，而且能推动这些新用户使用Facebook的产品，比如它最近收购的通讯应用程序WhatsApp。

    But one oft-overlooked area where UAS technology could really be a boon for Facebook is in data moving the other direction. Right now, Facebook owns mountains of data on its users, but relatively little on the parts of the world that aren't already connected to Facebook. Comparatively, Google's acquisitions and exclusive deals with third parties provide it with everything from the rich trove of geospatial data that powers Google Maps to the energy use and living habits of those using its Nest smart home technology, providing a far more robust picture of the world and a wider range of services it can provide.

    With a fleet of UAS in the sky, Facebook could begin gathering its own proprietary geospatial data, aerial imagery, traffic data, meteorological data -- information that it could then integrate into new products or sell to companies that need it, much like Google does and other companies threaten to do, at least with regard to drones.

    "For Facebook and Google and those guys, they know they need a toehold in this space," Bünger says. "There are a hundred other areas like that where they're having to compete now to get a toehold in the technology, and they can't really know right now what they're going to use it for. Nobody really knows."

    At $20 million, Facebook found its way into the drone space for a third of what it was reportedly going to pay to acquire Titan. The terms of Google's purchase of Titan haven't yet been disclosed, but whatever the final figure, it will likely be worth it. The acquisitions certainly have the attention of the rest of the drone industry, which now largely consists of small, privately held companies sitting on various competing technologies that are waiting to see how customers -- or perhaps future corporate overlords -- will put them to work.

    With the FAA and other civil aviation authorities moving toward policies that allow for the commercial operation of drones in civilian airspace, it seems a foregone conclusion at this point that more drone technology acquisitions are in the offing, Bünger says. They're not just vanity projects, but necessary pieces of a competitive technology portfolio.

    "For these companies these are very well-placed strategic bets," Bünger says of the recent acquisitions. "I don't know why in the world WhatsApp was valued the way it was, I can't even imagine. But these things -- Oculus Rift; both of these drone acquisitions by Facebook and Google; a lot of this technology that has to do with wearables; autonomous robotic systems on land, sea, and air; technologies that have to do with crunching all the data that you get from all these things -- those are the weapons you need to have with you going into the next competitive battles."        

    但一个经常被忽视的、无人机技术真正可能造福Facebook的领域，是反向移动的数据。现在，Facebook拥有关于用户的海量数据，但对于它尚未占据的市场，Facebook知之甚少。相比之下，谷歌的收购行动以及它与第三方的独家协议为它提供了各种各样的信息，从驱动谷歌地图（Google Maps）的丰富地理空间数据，到那些使用其Nest智能家居技术的用户的能源使用和生活习惯，提供了有用得多的世界概况，以及更广泛的谷歌能提供的服务。

    随着无人机群上天，Facebook可以开始自行搜集专有地理空间数据、航空影像、流量数据以及气象数据，同时还能将上述信息集成到新产品中，或者卖给有需要的企业，就像谷歌所做的一样。至少对于无人机是如此。其它一些公司也宣称打算这么干。

    邦杰说：“对于Facebook、谷歌等公司而言，他们知道自己在这个领域需要一个立足点。另外还有许多类似的领域，他们必须在那些领域展开竞争，以掌握相关技术。现在，他们并不清楚这些技术到底有什么用。没有人真正清楚。”

    Facebook花费2000万美元收购Ascenta，从而获得无人机领域的入场券，据报Facebook原本打算以三倍的价格收购泰坦。谷歌收购泰坦的条款尚未披露，但无论最终的收购价是多少，很可能都将值回票价。这两桩收购案引起了其它无人机公司的关注。这些公司大都是小型私人企业，掌握着各种竞争性技术，等着看客户——又或是未来的企业霸主——将如何利用这些技术。

    邦杰表示，随着美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）以及其他民航当局开始放宽政策，允许无人机在民用空域进行商业运营，更多的无人机技术收购案似乎注定即将上演。他们不只是形象工程，而是有竞争力的技术组合的必要组成部分。

    谈到最近的收购案，邦杰说：“对这些公司而言，这些收购案都是极佳的战略举措。我不知道WhatsApp的估值究竟为什么那么高，我完全无法想象。但这些——虚拟现实显示器Oculus Rift；Facebook与谷歌进行的这两桩无人机收购案；大量与可穿戴设备相关的技术；陆地、海上和空中自动机器人系统；以及与运算所有获得的数据有关的技术——这些都是下一轮竞争大战中所需要的武器。“（财富中文网）

    译者：项航