"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...
Let's say I am an attorney in private practice whose office is 8 blocks from the courthouse. Just where do I park this so that I know it will be there, and in good condition, after my court appearance? They don't let you take these inside the courthouse (with metal detectors and security up the ying yang these days), and I must have missed seeing the Segway (bike-like) rack outside the building to which I could chain mine.
Kamen might be a technology genius, but he didn't conduct $100 worth of focus groups before launching this turkey. If he had, he would have scrapped his production and marketing plans until he got it to go 25 mph and run for hours on a single charge, and cost about $800. The skate board crowd might have gone for 'em then.