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Segway had a slew of high profile injuries that damaged its brand. Then encouraging people to wear helmets on them made people look too geeky. People love thei

by dartos 2y ago

Segway had a slew of high profile injuries that damaged its brand. Then encouraging people to wear helmets on them made people look too geeky. People love their electric scooters nowadays, and they’re just worse Segways. Apples headset is expensive and has no compelling software for most people. It was DOA.

steveBK123 2y ago
Segway was in a sense ahead of its time and trying to create a new market segment. The early problems were it was illegal to use them on sidewalks but also there weren't bike lanes like there are in big cities now. It was also pretty big & heavy it didn't work for multi-modal like using it for the last mile to/from a train or bus. So the e-mobility space got won decades later by worse, cheaper products that were smaller & lighter .. being used heavily for food delivery app drivers using them semi-legally in bike lanes. A use case that wasn't imagined in the Segway unveiling.
andrewla 2y ago
"high profile injuries" is a wonderful understatement. The most notable "injury" being the death of the president of the company while riding his Segway [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden
- TylerE 2y ago
  That wasn’t until much, much later though. That was like 3 buyouts in.
  - andrewla 2y ago
    Maybe ... he bought it out in 2009, which was also when Paul Blart: Mall Cop came out, which served as a eulogy for any chances of dignity for the Segway
    - TylerE 2y ago
      Segway was introduced in 2001 and went on sale in 2002. By 2010 it was very much on a downslope.
jannes 2y ago
> helmets [...] made people look too geeky That doesn't bode well for VR headsets, which also make you look geeky.
- jart 2y ago
  Not when your VR headset costs as much as a Gucci handbag. The middle class won't want to join a new untested alternate reality if it's full of working class people, and the working class will always want to go where the middle class is at. The only thing to stop them is the price. That's why it costs the same as a piece of designer clothing. Apple has to lock in a critical mass of affluent adopters first, before they can mass monetize the prestige.
prmoustache 2y ago
> People love their electric scooters nowadays, and they’re just worse Segways. Not sure about that. The scooter is a >200year old design and there is a reason it subsist to this day. Segways are huge and not as easy to store/fold. Onewheeler are more elegant design and much more compact but awkward to operate when powered off in places you aren't allowed to use it and you cannot carry loads as easily. In that sense a scooter offer the speed of the segways/onewheelers, with the convenience of being able to push them easily anywhere with minimum effort while staying foldable, easy to hide away once reaching destination yet they can carry stuff.
- ngcc_hk 2y ago
  Not to mention you can jump out easily in certain scenario.
- wooger 2y ago
  I see noone mention the Segway flaw in real world use - if either wheel loses traction for a moment, the device will spin and dump the rider on the ground. They're laughably bad and uncomfortable to ride compared to a regular pushbike, let alone eBikes. Scooters are a smaller form factor, but bikes should be the real personal transport winner.

by dartos 2y ago

steveBK123 2y ago

Segway was in a sense ahead of its time and trying to create a new market segment. The early problems were it was illegal to use them on sidewalks but also there weren't bike lanes like there are in big cities now. It was also pretty big & heavy it didn't work for multi-modal like using it for the last mile to/from a train or bus. So the e-mobility space got won decades later by worse, cheaper products that were smaller & lighter .. being used heavily for food delivery app drivers using them semi-legally in bike lanes. A use case that wasn't imagined in the Segway unveiling.

andrewla 2y ago

"high profile injuries" is a wonderful understatement. The most notable "injury" being the death of the president of the company while riding his Segway [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden

TylerE 2y ago
That wasn’t until much, much later though. That was like 3 buyouts in.
- andrewla 2y ago
  Maybe ... he bought it out in 2009, which was also when Paul Blart: Mall Cop came out, which served as a eulogy for any chances of dignity for the Segway
  - TylerE 2y ago
    Segway was introduced in 2001 and went on sale in 2002. By 2010 it was very much on a downslope.

jannes 2y ago

> helmets [...] made people look too geeky That doesn't bode well for VR headsets, which also make you look geeky.

jart 2y ago
Not when your VR headset costs as much as a Gucci handbag. The middle class won't want to join a new untested alternate reality if it's full of working class people, and the working class will always want to go where the middle class is at. The only thing to stop them is the price. That's why it costs the same as a piece of designer clothing. Apple has to lock in a critical mass of affluent adopters first, before they can mass monetize the prestige.

prmoustache 2y ago

> People love their electric scooters nowadays, and they’re just worse Segways. Not sure about that. The scooter is a >200year old design and there is a reason it subsist to this day. Segways are huge and not as easy to store/fold. Onewheeler are more elegant design and much more compact but awkward to operate when powered off in places you aren't allowed to use it and you cannot carry loads as easily. In that sense a scooter offer the speed of the segways/onewheelers, with the convenience of being able to push them easily anywhere with minimum effort while staying foldable, easy to hide away once reaching destination yet they can carry stuff.

ngcc_hk 2y ago
Not to mention you can jump out easily in certain scenario.
wooger 2y ago
I see noone mention the Segway flaw in real world use - if either wheel loses traction for a moment, the device will spin and dump the rider on the ground. They're laughably bad and uncomfortable to ride compared to a regular pushbike, let alone eBikes. Scooters are a smaller form factor, but bikes should be the real personal transport winner.