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Not only did it fail to solve a basic problem, it was WILDLY overhyped pre-launch. Nothing short of a $500 consumer-friendly jetpack was going to meet the expec

by brk 4y ago

Not only did it fail to solve a basic problem, it was WILDLY overhyped pre-launch. Nothing short of a $500 consumer-friendly jetpack was going to meet the expectations set. IME, when you come out of the gate not even remotely hitting the expectations that you yourself set on a product launch it takes a very very long time to recover from that setback. If you at least solve real problems at some kind of palatable price point you can make up some of that loss, but when you have and expensive solution looking for a problem, not so much. The Segway had many issues, IMO one of the larger ones was that it was not that suitable for use in inclement weather. You would think a company based in NH would get this. They were also cumbersome to move around, and didn't even have a kickstand initially, so the matter of where/how you park the thing when not is use just added to the awkwardness of the whole thing.

AdamH12113 4y ago
It is impossible to overstate just how much the Segway (then called "Ginger" or "IT") was hyped up during its secret development period. Bob Metcalfe said it would be bigger than the internet[1]. Steve Jobs said it would be bigger than the PC, and that cities would be redesigned around it[2]. Jeff Bezos was on board[3]. Dean Kamen, the inventor, was going to be richer than Bill Gates[4]. No one knew what the big deal was going to be, but it had to be something incredible with all those names behind it. And then the announcement came, and it turned out to be a glorified electric scooter with a silly name and a $5,000 price tag. Strangely, none of the big names involved seemed to suffer any reputational blowback for what now seems like outright lying in service of someone else's hype campaign. [1] https://www.computerworld.com/article/2801380/dean-kamen-s-big-invention-still-a-mystery.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/2801380/dean-kamen-s-b... [2] https://www.economist.com/taxonomy/term/34/14587780?page=293 https://www.economist.com/taxonomy/term/34/14587780?page=293 [3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/04/engineering.highereducation https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/04/engineering.hi... [4] https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2001/01/27/ginger-invention-spicy-mystery/51000655007/ https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2001/01/27/ginger-in...
- gjvc 4y ago
  excellent summary. how those people got roped in to give those opinions on the record, i'll never know.
  - cwillu 4y ago
    It was the style at the time: everyone wore an opinion on their belt.
- tdeck 4y ago
  I remember this as a kid, boosters talked about the Segway the way they talked about Google Wave - something almost unexplainably amazing and transformative. There's even an onion video making fun of this years later: "Do You Remember Life Before The Segway" https://www.theonion.com/in-the-know-do-you-remember-life-before-the-segway-1819594614/amp https://www.theonion.com/in-the-know-do-you-remember-life-be...
- dekhn 4y ago
  I recall this because I was reading about it on slashdot during the "secret development period". Later I worked with a guy who rode one around and everybody thought he looked like a pompous ass on it.
- Johnny555 4y ago
  cities would be redesigned around it If that actually happened, then maybe the Segway would have taken off. San Francisco's core downtown area from North Beach to Mission Bay is only around 1.5 miles, with a Segway you could get from one end to the other in 5 minutes - faster than just the wait for a train or bus. Or from Ocean Beach to Union Square in 30 minutes, again faster than the train. Of course, commute hour would have been a mess with a hundred thousand segways trying to commute to downtown.
gorjusborg 4y ago
> it was WILDLY overhyped pre-launch This is the reason I would pick for why Segway didn’t take off. I think it would have been popular if it had entered public consciousness in a more gradual way. Instead, the public was pumped up with enough hype that nothing was going to live up to expectations. Oh, and South Park’s take took a bit of prestige away too (hilariously so).

by brk 4y ago

AdamH12113 4y ago

It is impossible to overstate just how much the Segway (then called "Ginger" or "IT") was hyped up during its secret development period. Bob Metcalfe said it would be bigger than the internet[1]. Steve Jobs said it would be bigger than the PC, and that cities would be redesigned around it[2]. Jeff Bezos was on board[3]. Dean Kamen, the inventor, was going to be richer than Bill Gates[4]. No one knew what the big deal was going to be, but it had to be something incredible with all those names behind it. And then the announcement came, and it turned out to be a glorified electric scooter with a silly name and a $5,000 price tag. Strangely, none of the big names involved seemed to suffer any reputational blowback for what now seems like outright lying in service of someone else's hype campaign. [1] https://www.computerworld.com/article/2801380/dean-kamen-s-big-invention-still-a-mystery.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/2801380/dean-kamen-s-b... [2] https://www.economist.com/taxonomy/term/34/14587780?page=293 https://www.economist.com/taxonomy/term/34/14587780?page=293 [3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/04/engineering.highereducation https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/04/engineering.hi... [4] https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2001/01/27/ginger-invention-spicy-mystery/51000655007/ https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2001/01/27/ginger-in...

gjvc 4y ago
excellent summary. how those people got roped in to give those opinions on the record, i'll never know.
- cwillu 4y ago
  It was the style at the time: everyone wore an opinion on their belt.
tdeck 4y ago
I remember this as a kid, boosters talked about the Segway the way they talked about Google Wave - something almost unexplainably amazing and transformative. There's even an onion video making fun of this years later: "Do You Remember Life Before The Segway" https://www.theonion.com/in-the-know-do-you-remember-life-before-the-segway-1819594614/amp https://www.theonion.com/in-the-know-do-you-remember-life-be...
dekhn 4y ago
I recall this because I was reading about it on slashdot during the "secret development period". Later I worked with a guy who rode one around and everybody thought he looked like a pompous ass on it.
Johnny555 4y ago
cities would be redesigned around it If that actually happened, then maybe the Segway would have taken off. San Francisco's core downtown area from North Beach to Mission Bay is only around 1.5 miles, with a Segway you could get from one end to the other in 5 minutes - faster than just the wait for a train or bus. Or from Ocean Beach to Union Square in 30 minutes, again faster than the train. Of course, commute hour would have been a mess with a hundred thousand segways trying to commute to downtown.

gorjusborg 4y ago

> it was WILDLY overhyped pre-launch This is the reason I would pick for why Segway didn’t take off. I think it would have been popular if it had entered public consciousness in a more gradual way. Instead, the public was pumped up with enough hype that nothing was going to live up to expectations. Oh, and South Park’s take took a bit of prestige away too (hilariously so).