> The curtain finally came up on the Segway personal transporter in December 2001, just under a year after the proposal leaked—when Kamen, in his jeans and work

> The curtain finally came up on the Segway personal transporter in December 2001, just under a year after the proposal leaked—when Kamen, in his jeans and work boots, went on Good Morning America. “It’s sort of like putting on a pair of magic sneakers,” he told Diane Sawyer. “You think forward, you go forward.” To me, this marketing strategy is what killed the Segway. Every news station in my area described it as if it were controlled by human thoughts. I suppose you could argue that it's technically true, since your thoughts are what cause you to lean forward, but it's such a scummy sales tactic that I could never take it seriously after that.