My Segway HT "Month-iversary"

Phillip M. Torrone writes "I didn't realize it, but I've been using a Segway HT for one month as of 01/04/03. To put it simply--it's been great and the HT has exceeded all expectations, I'm cautiously optimistic that this was a great purchase and look forward to the next 30 days. You can read, see and hear about my experiences here: http://www.bookofseg.com." I have yet to see one of these in real life, but they do look fun.

Comments

Who is Phillip M. Torrone

[djupedal]

And what else does P. M. Tyronne endorse?

XBox live, for one...and the iPod...and large doses of Flash, apparently. This gentleman is a one-man press release :)

Maybe just cynical, but...

[Urthpaw]

The domain "bookofseg.com" is registered to Phillip Torrone. (listed on the about page as well). According to his site , this guy works at Fallon , an advertising company devoted to "generating disproportionate results for our clients through a unique combination of rigor, relentlessness, and surprise" .

What I'm getting at is, how do we know that this site isn't just a plant by Segway's marketing agency?

Weight

[uptownguy]

Incidentally, does anyone know how much weight the Segway is designed to handle?

From the How Stuff Works Website:

Weight capacity: 250 pound (110 kg) person with 75 pounds (34 kg) of cargo.

(Good link about more Segway stuff without all of the marketing hype at Howstuffworks, too.)

Segway marketing desperation

[EnlightenmentFan]

This slashvertisement is just one of a series of marketing ploys from Segway fans--their sales must really suck.

Just last week, Reuters bought and CNN published as a front page story this Amazon /Segway press release. Reuters must not employ any of those hard-driving investigative reporters we loved in old 30s movies.

For example the "story" "reports"

• "pre-orders already place the high-tech scooter in the top half percent of sales" Yeah? Each Segway costs $5000, while the average Amazon item costs maybe $50. So if Amazon sells 100 Segways in a month, it's in the same percentile as a book that sold 10,000 copies in the same month--that's pretty impressive sales for a book, pretty lousy sales for an item that got the publicity buzz Segway did, an item featured on Amazon's front page.
• "It's selling better than many of our digital cameras" Yeah? And is Amazon the only retailer selling digital cameras, the way it is the only retailer selling Segways? In fact, do you know anybody who would go to Amazon to buy a digital camera?
• "Frazier declined to provide actual pre-sale numbers" I am sure the carefully phrased hype provided is much closer to what CNN readers care about.

What got left out of the "news story" is also interesting. There is no mention of the financial stake that Amazon has in pumping up Segway sales by releasing phony hype aimed at making the product look more popular than it is. Jeff Marshall at Mercury News has some interesting background on the financial ties involved

Some Reuters Clark Kent may have added one note of reality in the final sentence: "in San Francisco a debate is raging over whether the human transporter should be allowed on that city's streets. " That debate stopped raging a week before this press release came out. According to the Dec. 20 SF Chronicle , after extensive public discussion 9 of 11 supervisors have voted to ban the Segway, enough to overturn the mayor's veto if he decides to try one.