Alphabet says that it is shutting down Loon, its internet balloon project, calling it “a successful experiment” but not a viable one
Plus: The moonshot's launch, health care for the mask-less, and a new era's inaugural meme. — DO you detect something missing?
Wired Steven Levy
Related Coverage
- View article X, the moonshot factory
- Saying goodbye to Loon Loon Blog · Alastair Westgarth
- Google's Hot-Air Balloon Project, Providing Cell Service, Is Closing Down New York Times · Daisuke Wakabayashi
- Alphabet cancels Loon, project to beam internet to earth from balloons CNBC · Jennifer Elias
- Alphabet shuts down Loon internet balloon company TechCrunch · Manish Singh
- Alphabet is shutting down Loon, its internet balloon company The Verge · Jay Peters
- Google parent Alphabet to shut down Loon, its internet-beaming balloon project CNET · Richard Nieva
- Alphabet gives up on balloon-powered internet Mashable · Stan Schroeder
- View article Fortune
- Alphabet Is ‘Winding Down’ Loon Internet Balloon Project PCMag · Stephanie Mlot
- Alphabet's Project Loon goes down like a lead balloon Android Police · Prasham Parikh
- View article coinspeaker.com
- Alphabet shut down another Google X project, the ambitious internet balloon company Loon Business Insider · Martin Coulter
- Alphabet bursts its balloon-powered internet plans The Next Web · Thomas Macaulay
- Alphabet is shutting down Loon, its ambitious internet balloon venture CNN · Michelle Toh
- Google shutting down its internet balloon project Loon Silicon Republic · Jonathan Keane
- Google parent firm pops Loon balloon internet project Digital Trends · Trevor Mogg
- Alphabet pulls the plug on its ambitious Loon internet balloon project Android Central · Babu Mohan
- Alphabet Loon Internet balloon “Other Bet” gets grounded forever SlashGear · JC Torres
- Alphabet's Loon not commercially viable and is due to shut Neowin · Paul Hill
- Google's parent company Alphabet shuts down Loon ZDNet · Aimee Chanthadavong
- Alphabet Shuts Loon Project to Beam Internet From High-Altitude Balloons Bloomberg
- Alphabet shutting down internet balloon venture Loon iTnews · Paresh Dave
- Google parent company's ‘internet balloon’ project axed after costs remain too high The Hill · John Bowden
- Google parent Alphabet cancels Loon project to deliver internet by hot air balloon SiliconANGLE · Mike Wheatley
- Alphabet Is Shutting Down Loon, Its Project To Bring People Internet Via Balloons Forbes · Rachel Sandler
- Alphabet shutting down Loon balloons over lack of ‘long-term, sustainable business’ 9to5Google · Abner Li
- Alphabet will ‘wind down’ Loon's internet-broadcasting balloons Engadget · Richard Lawler
- Alphabet is sending Loon's balloons back to earth Protocol · Mike Murphy
- Google's parent shuts down effort to deliver internet via balloons Axios · Ina Fried
Discussion
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X, the moonshot factory
Astro Teller
on x
Loon's final flight
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@derektmead
@derektmead
on x
Not surprised but nonetheless RIP to a project that held on from a bygone era when tech felt more invested in wacky and fun ideas https://techcrunch.com/...
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@lauramandaro
Laura Mandaro
on x
@NickBastone and @amir saw this coming in November, when they reported Loon had spent all the $$ it raised from an external investor and was on the hunt for more https://www.theinformation.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
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@airlineflyer
Jason Rabinowitz
on x
I'll miss seeing the Loon balloons in random places on @flightradar24 but never understood how this could work successfully. Turns out it can't. https://twitter.com/...
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@mucheru
CS Joe Mucheru EGH
on x
The learnings gained from partnering with Loon will catapult our vision of ubiquitous access to all.. https://medium.com/...
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@bradstone
Brad Stone
on x
In blog post, Google declares all my old earnest Project Loon coverage now looks totally ridiculous in retrospect. https://medium.com/... a greatest hit from @BW, now slightly embarrassing: https://www.bloomberg.com/...
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@martinsfp
Martin Sfp Bryant
on x
Loon's been popped. https://twitter.com/...
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@theteamatx
@theteamatx
on x
We're sad to share that Loon's journey is coming to an end. Despite the team's groundbreaking technical achievements the road to commercial viability has proven much longer and riskier than hoped — so we've made the difficult decision to close down Loon. https://blog.x.company/..…
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@sub8u
Subrahmanyam Kvj
on x
Tech is fascinating. Economics is excruciating. Shouldn't take years to understand that a sustainable business needs both to work in tandem! Google's Internet thro' balloons venture, Project Loon, is shutting down. https://medium.com/... https://twitter.com/...
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@pt
Parker
on x
I'm sympathetic to the view Google should just return capital to shareholders, but TBH they do really neat things I'm skeptical VCs would fund with their patience. I won't be surprised if eventually they hit a winner that pays for them all. Do we not remember Android? https://twi…
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@rdrv3
David ‘cyberdunk’ Ruddock
on x
does this surprise like, anyone https://twitter.com/...
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@killedbygoogle
@killedbygoogle
on x
So loong! https://twitter.com/...
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@jason
@jason
on x
RIP Loon — was a cool idea, but... well... Starlink. https://twitter.com/...
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@t1merickson
Tim Erickson
on x
The market for Loon changed since its founding in 2013 “In the last decade, much of the underserved world became connected—internet availability rose from 75% to 93%. The remaining areas are primarily populated by those who can't afford the 4G phones that receive Loon signals.” h…
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@bznotes
Bilal Zuberi
on x
There was so much technology invented to make this happen...though questionable if it commercially ever made sense, even in a back of the envelope way. Will make for a good business school case study. Like the one written once upon a time on The Rise and Fall of Iridium (2000). h…
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@jason_pontin
Jason Pontin
on x
Which of its big things has X actually gotten across the line? Glass, Toronto, Loon, even Google Cars—all failures. I'm sorry for Astro, whom I like. There's some flawed about the whole approach. Too much money; not enough market pull; too little discipline. Something. https://tw…
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@bgurley
Bill Gurley
on x
Would love to see an HBR case on this one day. @trengriffin https://twitter.com/...
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@grinich
Michael Grinich
on x
The day SpaceX reused that first rocket was the real ending for Project Loon. 😥 A 10x reduction in cost-to-orbit meant it was inevitable satellite internet would win. Still, it's a shame. Loon was such a cool idea and executed well. Alas it was the LaserDisc of global internet. h…
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@lutherlowe
Luther Lowe
on x
Surprise, surprise: Project Loon was vaporware! https://www.techmeme.com/... Each time Inc/Fast Company/Wired/etc obediently engaged in this Google brand puffery, they missed an opportunity to scrutinize how Google search was strangling the web or how YouTube was radicalizing peo…
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@edbott
Ed Bott
on x
Google's graveyard gets another tombstone. https://twitter.com/...
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@ianjohnbuckley
Ian Buckley
on x
Very sad to see this. I worked on the @Loon4all radio back around 2014 and though I declined an offer to join GoogleX, I always hoped this would succeed as it seemed such an elegant solution working passively with minimal energy use. https://www.wired.com/...
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@benedictevans
Benedict Evans
on x
With Google's balloons shut down, following Facebook's drones, and Starlink in the news... there is something interesting in the psychology of people from the tech industry wanting to take on cellular by building their own proprietary non-standard unscalable technology