More Matrice 3D drone pix raise the question: Is DJI leaking intentionally?

As DroneDJ readers (and anyone else paying even passing attention) have realized by now, DJI has become a veritable (and suspiciously unrepaired) sieve of nominally confidential product information – the most recent example being the liberal flow of photos of the rumored Matrice 3D enterprise drone in advanced stages of development. How did such a tight-lipped company become a leak machine?

The conduit of most of those Matrice 3D images – and the majority of leaked photos and specs of other DJI products over the past year – has been Igor Bogdanov of @Quadro_News. This week he’s topping off his mounting pile of information on the looming addition to the Matrice line with new visuals.

Following up the photos DroneDJ reported on Monday, Bodganov posted additional pix of both the Matrice 3D and the DJI Mini Dock the enterprise drone is designed to operate from. 

Both are relatively clear and close-up images, though one is a rear view of the nesting device that doesn’t reveal much one wouldn’t expect on what’s basically the product’s butt. 

The one stand-out detail are the wind vanes visible on top of the dock for gauging climactic conditions ahead of flights. While two versions of those gadgets are easy to identify, it’s doubtful fans of DJI tech leaks will be getting too terribly hot and bothered from either of those.

The far sharper image of the Matrice 3D atop the dock also doesn’t betray too much detail of the developmental drone, besides the usual sensor placement and battery vents. 

(On a separate topic, this morning Bogdanov also posted images of M300 RTKs being tested with “new thermal cameras,” though we’ll get back to that separately as additional information invariably gushes from DJI.)

Indeed, given the current unceasing flow of what for years had been DJI’s closely guarded secrets, the question arises: How and why has the company previously known for keeping its drone development activities under wraps now become more leak-prone than a libation-sodden Boris Johnson cabinet meeting?

Giving credit where it’s due, the answer in part lies with the increasingly dogged work and diversifying sources of DJI sleuths like Bogdanov, @DealsDrone, and of late @NGDrone. Internal company nuggets aren’t unearthed unless those leaker miners continue their digging.

Yet with those outside prospectors now eating DJI’s product development lunch at will ­– and at times every day – it seems clear something inside the firm itself has changed to permit, possibly even encourage selected tidbits to ooze out.

Why would it do that? 

For starters, it doubtless took note in earlier years of how the rare and limited leaked details of upcoming drone releases were swarmed by DJI fans ever eager to get a peek at new gear. And, as most restauranteurs know, the best way of whetting ravenous diners’ appetites is to give them slivers of amuse gueules as they impatiently await the main dish.

Meanwhile, with specialized media only too happy to cover those leaks for enthusiastic readers (we’re looking at ourselves, us…), drone companies that orchestrate controlled revelations of developmental products know they’re certain to get maximum exposure for momentarily dropping trow in public.

To be sure, if were the strategy DJI has adopted – pure speculation on our part at this point – it carries the downside of outwardly appearing to let loose-cannon employees blab away as they please with utter impunity. Meanwhile, it would also be responsible for the recent spate of new products finally being officially unveiled with the company having nothing left to present that fans haven’t seen over and again.

Whether they’re the consequences of internal policy decisions or actions beyond DJI’s control, none of those upshots look too great in classic corporate reputation terms.

But in an era when DJI has to be only too happy for public attention to shift from the seriously damaging allegations and blacklisting efforts raging in the US to more productive topics – and when prices for advertising and marketing services are sky high – it’s feasible the company has come to view the prospect of generating free, useful mass market publicity, and media coverage like this very post as simply too good to pass up.