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Segway HT Starts Selling
Ninja Master Gara writes "The much-hyped "IT", Dean Kamen's Segway Human Transporter, started selling Monday with a no-refund deposit of $495 on the $4,950 people mover for deliveries starting March 2003 on first come first serve basis.
"The Segway Human Transporter is one of the most famous and anticipated product introductions of all time," Jeff Bezos, chief executive and founder of Amazon.com, said in heralding the availability of the vehicles on the online retailer's site." It's also the most overhyped and overpriced toy ever, and I'm kicking myself for posting it since that just contributes to the problem.
I remember, many years ago, there was a similar device. It promised to revolutionise transport in ourt crowded infrastructure. It cost about £400 ($800 or so at the time), could be driven by anyone, was efficient, and affordable.
It was called the Sinclair C5 and it was a complete failure.
The Segway is almost the same, except it has a price tag high large enough to buy a cheap used car, and looks even more stupid.
A vehicle that can move you along at about 15 mph without making you sweat while in a suit and tie...or whetever work clothing you are wearing.
So what do you do with this thing when you get to work? Are they going to have a parking lot for them? Ride it into the office? Will the HR department enforce a 2mph speed limit in the hallway? Will part of your pay be the electricity to recharge your unit on the company electric circuit?
(imagine your favorite HR person standing in the hall of your office with a radar gun.) ha.
Don't Tread on Me
Don't like it, don't buy it.
However, do not deny the technology in it is very cool. In fact, the Amazon.com order page has a very nice semi-detailed overview of how everything works, with diagrams, etc.
I can't wait to try one of these one day when they come down in price.
"And like that
I remember reading a while back about how people who were shown IT/Ginger in it's development have basically said Segway is not it. ZDNet has the story.
I was curious why Steve Jobs was getting all excited about something like this, doesn't seem like him.
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
Northern NJ towns are already regretting that hasty cave-in, according to this article. The state law Segway lobbyists pushed through prohibits towns from banning any "electric personal assistive mobility devices,'' says that story--the law " was passed after Segway, maker of the "Human Transporter,'' lobbied New Jersey's Legislature and others throughout the country."
So what's the problem? As a result, New Jersey towns have been unable to deal with the latest fad among local teenagers, electric scooters, which they ride on the sidewalks.
Note that the scooters now terrorizing North Jersey pedestrians are not "assistive devices" that deserve protection by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)--neither is the Segway. These are vehicles you have to stand up on to drive. But affluent parents who bought these toys for their teens are calling on the protection of the ADA to keep them on the sidewalks and out of traffic. We can expect to see the same with the Segway.
San Francisco plans to fight back, according to this Examiner article. Senior-citizen activists and walkers protested they don't want to share their space with a 95 lb machine traveling 12 mph. "The whole point of sidewalks is to separate vehicles from pedestrians," says Walk San Francisco director Michael Smith.
IMO, the Segway is a pyramid scheme waiting to tumble. Early investors put up the cash for a massive publicity and lobbying campaign. They now have until March to lure unsuspecting buyers to buy their Segways, and unsuspecting investors to buy their stock.
In March it's all over. Once Segways hit the sidewalks, the pyramid crumbles. Whoever has money in Segways in March will take the hits for liability claims that already have class-action lawyers licking their chops. State legislators will quickly rescind Segway laws, and Segway owners will be riding their white elephants in the street--if they feel like admitting they own this year's version of Edsel.
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
The Segway has been criticized mercilessly since it was first revealed. I think this is largely the result of the secrecy surround its development. A great deal of speculation ensued about what it could be, and then when it was launched, people felt let down because they had imagined something more.
Where else have I seen this? Oh yeah, it happens before every Macworld Expo. It's some kind of clinical condition that relates to people never being satisfied and the grass always looking greener elsewhere.
Anyway, I think it is pretty stupid to call it overhyped.
Firstly, the rampant speculation was NOT hype. It was speculation. Hype is when you talk about the great features of a product and how much you want one. Anticipation of the next LoTR movie is hype. Speculation about "IT" or "Ginger" was more like wondering about whether aliens exist.
Secondly, I think hype can only really be determined after the product is launched to see if it fails to live upto expectations. We have no idea how well the Segway will do. How can we tell whether or not it was overhyped?
This kind of shooting-from-the-hip editorial commentary fundamentally lowers the level of discussion around here sometimes.
Paris has always been good for Bikes, Bladers, Scooters et al. The wide pavements, the properly enforced cycle lanes.
Lots of people Bike/Blade/Scoot to work in Paris because you can and lets face it Paris is a nice place to see as you go. The Scooters allow the suits to zip around with less hassle than blades, but many people still use blades. And while you look a little silly on a Scooter you are still part of some form of sub-culture, and they are not hanging around.
The Segway makes you look like a muppet. Parisiens will forgive many things, but not looking cool or stylish isn't one of them. This is a city with Policemen trained by the Olympic skating team to be bladers.
I await to be corrected but somehow I can't imagine 2,000 Segway owners meeting at Bastille on a Sunday afternoon for a great high speed crack around the city. Exercise is cool in Paris, being Fat is very uncool.
Vive la differance and all that, but Segway will be as popular as American tourists in Paris.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
While the Segway sounds like a great idea, I'll wait for the following improvements:
1. The weight of the unit has to come down. The current 65 pound weight is a bit much to carry up and down staircases.
2. The unit should be collapsible, so you it makes it much easier to carry on and off means of public transport (trains, trolleys, buses and ferries).
3. The cost has to be much lower than now.
I really hope a company like Dahon (famous for its folding bicycles) will work with Kamen and develop something akin to a Segway that weighs no more than 25-27 pounds, folds and/or collapses to a manageable size, and costs no more than US$2,000 to start and then lower the cost as technology improves.