Let's get this out of the way first: Jeff Bezos's announcement that Amazon.com Inc. is working on a way to deliver goods by unmanned aircraft was little more than puffery—a brilliantly wafted bit of vaporware that, like a lone drone making its way across a bleak landscape, arrived at its destination beautifully intact.

Though Mr. Bezos has no idea when drone delivery will become operational—the plan is blocked by U.S. regulation and is both technologically and economically questionable—his unveiling of the project on "60...