Posted on 02/23/2003 6:35:35 PM PST by SamAdams76
Edited on 06/29/2004 7:09:44 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Inventor Dean Kamen promised that his superscooter would change the world. Then reality hit - hard.
It would be premature to call the most talked about scooter in the history of humankind a huge bust. But the Segway has always been ahead of its time. For a decade, Dean Kamen fiddled and tested and tinkered with his invention, finally stage-managing its public unveiling in December 2001. He figured 2002 would be the year that the Segway Human Transporter launched a transportation revolution. Executives at companies like FedEx and Amazon.com would behold his high tech superscooter and wonder how they'd managed all these years without it. The US Postal Service and police departments across the nation would overwhelm the company with orders. And behind Segway's institutional customers, Kamen envisioned a long line of consumers from around the globe, checkbooks in hand. Maybe not all 6 billion of us would clamor at once to own one, but to him that seemed only a matter of time. After all, he was hawking the Segway as not merely a faster way to get from here to there but also a solution to urban congestion, air pollution, and dependency on fossil fuel. To prepare for the onslaught, Kamen leased a 77,000-square-foot factory near his home in Manchester, New Hampshire,and began puzzling through the logistics of running round-the-clock shifts. He hired scores of lobbyists, who spent much of last year trying to persuade state legislatures to rewrite their laws to permit his scooter to operate on city sidewalks. Before he'd sold a single one, Kamen blithely forecast that by the end of 2002, his enterprise would be stamping out 10,000 machines a week. Meanwhile, his best-known backer, venture capitalist John Doerr, predicted Segway would rack up $1 billion in sales faster than any company in history.
(Excerpt) Read more at wired.com ...
That said, I think the biggest PR blunder Dean Kamen made was with those bicycle helmets that everybody was wearing in all those publicity photos. This gave the Segway a "dork factor" that is going to be hard to overcome. Besides, if the device is so safe, what do you need a crash helmet for?
What Kamen should have done to promote the product was to sell a bunch of them to amusement/theme parks to be rented out for the day. People would have lined up to rent them - how many people come home from amusement/theme parks early because they are dog-tired after walking several miles in the hot sun? This also would have exposed the product to the millions of people a year that go to amusement/theme parks.
Anyway, I sincerely wish Dean Kamen luck with future models and hope that this concept becomes a success someday.
Andy Kjellgren / Special A member of the Ambassador Force is treated for his injuries after an accident on his Segway Thursday night. |
The officer, whose name was not released, injured his knee going up a driveway onto the sidewalk, said Atlanta Police Sgt. Michael Giugliano. He was taken to Grady Hospital.
Atlanta is one of the first cities to buy into the concept of using the Segway scooters, manufactured out of Manchester, N.H., for use by city employees.
Six of the 65-pound Segway scooters were lent to the Atlanta police for 60 days in late April by the company that are promoting them. Ten more of the machines were purchased for $9,000 each by the city's Ambassador Force, Central Atlanta Progress and Georgia Power, according to Atlanta Regional Commission spokeswoman Julie Ralston.
I feel bad for the inventor, but I don't feel bad about the demise of the product. The Segway was nothing but the 21st century's version of the Moped.
Sure, it may have been fun to ride, but you wouldn't want your friends to see you on one...
-Jay
Too slow, too heavy, too "short" on range.
I don't know that this would work. You would need something like a parking lot outside of every ride to leave it as taking it with you would not be an option.
I don't think the parks would want to do a major redesign for something of unproven economic value.
Amazon.com states "Only two per customer during this special launch offer" - as if people are banging the doors down to get one. What's more, if you do order one (after paying a $495 deposit), you might not even get it until July 31st.
I do believe there is a market for this device that is being overlooked. There are millions of Americans who use wheel chairs to get around, not because they can't stand, but because wheelchairs are the only alternative to walking for distance.
I have difficulty walking long distances. I stick it out, but it would be a big help for me to have one of these devices. Right now people are paying thousands for exotic wheel-chairs. Many of them could use a Segway. I think Kayman priced himself out of their range.
This technology facinates me. I'm hoping he can make a go of it, because it is an interesting device, which may suffer from having been marketed incorrectly, more than anything else.
The Army wants to make an electric tank, so that it can shoot an electric gun and be defended by electric armor, etc. It's all a paper study, since the battery weight/volume necessary to do it right (with today's technology) would make the vehicle more akin to a pillbox on the Maginot Line.
Hey, I know that joke too, LOL.
So, why did they pay twice the asking price?
This invention is innovative. It's also totally stupid.
There are a very few instances where they would be handy, and none where they are indispensable.
"IT is **IT.
Look, this is America, not Europe. Personal transport devices here in America, on the whole, don't cut the distances involved. Just ask AMTRAK.
I can't believe any savvy American capitalist would have given a second look to this gizmo, let alone buy stock in it. And I admire the fact that Kamen may indeed by a brilliant inventor, but I would point people who idolize Kamen to the historical division of the patent office. Many people like Kamen have registered similar products and gone on to obscurity, as will this invention...
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