5 ms·

What's fascinating to me is that now, 14 years after the Segway failed to take over the world and became indelibly associated with upper-middle-class nerds, sim

What's fascinating to me is that now, 14 years after the Segway failed to take over the world and became indelibly associated with upper-middle-class nerds, similar technology is now 90% less expensive, has found a more socially-acceptable form factor, and is actually becoming associated with celebrity tastemakers. It would be quite the irony if the breathless hype about the Segway circa 2000 ended up being realized a decade and a half later, without the Segway.

hugs 11y ago
Too early (or poorly executed) happens often enough, that I don't think it's irony -- it's expected. See also: Windows for Pen Computing and the iPad.
Plough_Jogger 11y ago
A humorous and insightful PG post on Segway: http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html
- TrevorJ 11y ago
  I've thought about that a lot, and I think new tech adoption relies more on the social framework that's in place around it than we think. Simply put: if it makes you look/seem like an asshole then it's not gonna happen unless it's too good to ignore. Smart watches and bluetooth headsets are great examples: they work fine but they make you look like a tool because of the social frameworks we have in place (it's rude to check your watch while in a conversation, it makes people feel weird when they think you are talking to them but you are just on your bluetooth.) Smartphones didn't deal with this friction because there's a long history of social rules around reading in public, and smartphones are essentially the same thing. We know when it's rude and when it's not, we know how to handle somebody reading next to us in the train, etc. In short, using a smartphone didn't make you look like a tool, it was just the next logical step from reading a magazine. I definitely think Segway fell victim to this.

5 ms·

What's fascinating to me is that now, 14 years after the Segway failed to take over the world and became indelibly associated with upper-middle-class nerds, sim

by mortenjorck 11y ago

hugs 11y ago
Too early (or poorly executed) happens often enough, that I don't think it's irony -- it's expected. See also: Windows for Pen Computing and the iPad.
Plough_Jogger 11y ago
A humorous and insightful PG post on Segway: http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html
- TrevorJ 11y ago
  I've thought about that a lot, and I think new tech adoption relies more on the social framework that's in place around it than we think. Simply put: if it makes you look/seem like an asshole then it's not gonna happen unless it's too good to ignore. Smart watches and bluetooth headsets are great examples: they work fine but they make you look like a tool because of the social frameworks we have in place (it's rude to check your watch while in a conversation, it makes people feel weird when they think you are talking to them but you are just on your bluetooth.) Smartphones didn't deal with this friction because there's a long history of social rules around reading in public, and smartphones are essentially the same thing. We know when it's rude and when it's not, we know how to handle somebody reading next to us in the train, etc. In short, using a smartphone didn't make you look like a tool, it was just the next logical step from reading a magazine. I definitely think Segway fell victim to this.