Google parent Alphabet Inc shut down Loon, an audacious project to beam internet service from high-altitude balloons, after the unit failed to develop a viable business model.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we\u2019ve found a number of willing partners along the way, we haven\u2019t found a way to get the costs low enough to build a long-term, sustainable business,\u201d Loon chief executive officer Alastair Westgarth wrote Thursday in a blog post.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeveloping radical new technology is inherently risky, but that doesn\u2019t make breaking this news any easier. Today, I\u2019m sad to share that Loon will be winding down.\u201d<\/p>\n
First unveiled to the public in 2013, Loon debuted as an effort to blanket the globe with internet connections using giant balloons drifting on currents high in the stratosphere.<\/p>\n
It was one of the most arresting ideas from Google\u2019s \u201cmoonshot factory,\u201d the plan from co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to upend entire industries and reinvent their search and advertising company.<\/p>\n
Loon spent years flying its helium balloons around the planet and spending Google\u2019s money. In 2018, it spun out of Google\u2019s research lab into a separate Alphabet business, part of a strategy to make far-fetched units fend for themselves.<\/p>\n
Loon pared back its initial ambitions – relying on fewer balloons and covering only select areas of the globe – and recruited several veterans from the satellite and wireless industry.<\/p>\n
It also partnered with several telecom companies, which had initially worried competition from the project.<\/p>\n
In 2019, a division of SoftBank Corp invested $125 million in Loon. Their stated plan was to use skycraft, rather than balloons, to provide connectivity in emerging markets and more remote areas where physical networks are scarce.<\/p>\n