Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet "Ginger"
hbswk.hbs.edu
hbswk.hbs.edu
When they revealed it on the Today show they had people riding around on them with bike helmets, sweater vests, and bowties. I've ridden one, mind you, and it is an incredible machine.. but I wouldn't be caught dead riding one of those things in public. There's a reason Jobe rides one in Arrested Development.
For all Dean's smarts, it was his inability to connect with the every day person that caused the flop. Never underestimate the power of cool.
Congratulations, you just killed the bicycle!
It's more than just looking like a dork... it's the image of laziness that you get from riding a Segway. The thing is useless for travelling anywhere you couldn't otherwise walk. It's fine in limited situations where one would have to walk a beat all day, or travel around a large factory floor, but most of us will never have to do that.
The cool kids slouch or lounge, because they're at ease (or faking it).
... or instead of feet side-by-side you go for one foot ahead, one back like a skater.
If not, I highly suggest you try it. The control system feels so natural. It's like a motorcycle on your feet.
To be fair - I've used a similar analogy for a modern sportbike. "It's like running really fast" - most modern sportbikes are so compact that they aren't anywhere in your field of vision.
Or Weird Al, in 'White and Nerdy'.
"You have a product so revolutionary, you'll have no problem selling it. The question is, are people going to be allowed to use it?"
That's Segway's problem right there. Just because something is revolutionary, doesn't mean it will sell. These business giants made the exact same mistake we all make - assume other people will get as excited as we are.
Are we talking about the Segway, or the iPad?
Although I'm not entirely sure of his conclusion that bike-like styling would be a solution to this problem. Plenty of us get the occasional homophobic insults from jagoff motorists.
On that topic, I think another reason the Segway wasn't very successful is that it has few compelling advantages over a $300 bike-- it has the same speed, has a lower range and is harder to refuel, doesn't fit in that well with existing infrastructure, and doesn't get you exercise. The only upside I can think of is that, because you aren't exercising, you don't sweat (slow down riding your bike or take a shower!) and that it's high-tech.
Jobs said he lived seven minutes from a grocery and wasn't sure he would use Ginger to get there. Bezos agreed.
I don't know where Jobs gets his instincts about this stuff, but he was totally right: http://tlb.org/scooter.html
"We have a few things they can't get," said Dean. "Specialty components with only one source."
"They'll figure out a way around that," said Jobs.
"I've spent nine years looking," said Dean, "and I don't think so."
In a world where people crack encryption schemes or write open-source drivers for hardware without any documentation or specifications to speak of -- for fun, mind you -- it's the height of either arrogance or ignorance to assume that something won't be re-created just because it's hard.
Maybe they should add some kind of stepper thing which speeds up the thing. So, old people can just cruise at the base speed and others can step up the speed.