Segway scooter done?

F**kedcompany.com ^

[newsperson999]

Segway scooter done So all the people who had preordered a Segway from Amazon just received a note from Amazon saying, "We've recently learned from our supplier that the item you requested to be notified about, Segway Human Transporter (also known as "Ginger" or "IT"), will not be available in the foreseeable future" and then recommends that shoppers look for the item on Amazon's used and auction sites. Ha ha I got to ride one and you won't! blah When: 9/12/2002
Company: Segway
Severity: 100 - new hall of fame inductee!
Points: 200

[apochromat]

Anybody know how much IT plans are worth?
Probably would fit on one DVD.

[DoughtyOne]

They had a wonderful marketing plan. They spent 12 months trying to market it to corporations in a downturn and forbid individual consumers who were dying to have one from making a purchase. They may have a brain trust for an inventor, but their marketing ghuru should be locked up. The guy hasn't got the brain power to get across the street safely.

[evolved_rage]

They need Lee Iacocca. I'm not sure if his electric bike company will ever take off.

[JennysCool]

Now just a darn minute! Don't you remember that urban planners are designing WHOLE CITIES around this thing? Har.

[MadIvan]

I had my doubts about a scooter working for Americans anyway - it simply wasn't GRAND enough for the brash American spirit. An SUV is much more American - bold, big, brash, with leather seats and a big stereo and a cup holder for a giant cappucino, etc.

The scooter wouldn't have succeeded over here either. It was too much like Clive Sinclair's ill-fated C5, an electric mini-car from the 1980's.

Regards, Ivan

[Petronski]

Kewl design, sh!tty marketing.

[DoughtyOne]

The electric bike is not the way to go IMO. Make a clever little two seater with a range of 50 miles, that has a top speed of 40 mph and sells for under $10,000. They'll sell millions of them. It doesn't have to be a Lincoln. It needs to be something people can go to the market, the hardware store, the nearby job or the movies in. It's a second car and doesn't need to be capable of 400-500 miles per charge. It doesn't have to have a heavy duty body that will hold up for long trips. Make a kick-a-bout model and a sporty model.

[shadowman99]

These stupid things were going to cost $3000. For 40 bucks you can by a scooter or skateboard.

Who would have purchased a segway? Who would want to be seen on one?

Let's say, by some freak lucky accident, that rich people dug these things. Status symbols and all that. Are people going to be allowed to ride them into an office building with marble floors? Because for three grand I don't think people are going to leave them unattended outside. It would be pretty easy to throw one of these in the back of a pickup and drive away. Hello, pawn shop.

And what happens when kids buy them and start hotrodding them? Because the same kids that ride skateboards would start hacking away on these. And then people would hate segways the way they hate skateboarders.

I think it's funny someone even built this stupid thing. Treehuggers are funny.

[DoughtyOne]

Great point. Evidently city planners were pulled off course by some evil villian. LOL

[HAL9000]

The Register - Segway on track: ignore Amazon goof

[Partisan Hack]

You just described Frod's "Think," Ron. They just cancelled production. I thought the same as you.

Oh well.

[DoughtyOne]

I think you're overlooking some of the same natural end users that the Segway people did.

We're going to the LA County fair this weekend. They rent electric carts to get people around. I'd bet there's a large market for Disney, Fairs, and a multitude of amusement parks and other end users that could have rented these out on a daily basis. They'd have paid for themselves in a few months.

There are millions of people in this nation that don't need a full blown wheelchair to get around. They could have used the Segway. And if the Segway's were financed, those folks would have been happy to pay $25 to $50 bucks a month not to be confined to a wheelchair.

These are just a few ideas that somebody seems to have overlooked.

[DoughtyOne]

Give me a little more information on that. "Frod's 'Think'" I hadn't heard of this.

[Diddle E. Squat]

"A recent poll of Brits ranked Princess Di's death as the most important story of the 20th Century."

[Diddle E. Squat]

How long until the first Broward County snowbirds are plastered in their 'two-seater' by Miss Daisy's maurading Cadillac?

Cha-ching.

[john in missouri]

Let's say, by some freak lucky accident, that rich people dug these things. Status symbols and all that. Are people going to be allowed to ride them into an office building with marble floors? Because for three grand I don't think people are going to leave them unattended outside. It would be pretty easy to throw one of these in the back of a pickup and drive away. Hello, pawn shop.

Exactly. Perfect example of an apparent genius coming up with a 'brilliant invention' -- with almost no practical use or popular demand whatsoever.

[AF68]

I thought this contraption was supposed to be the greatest invention of all time, revolutionize the way people live and, most importantly, save the planet. The Segway's downfall will be the death knell of civilization. WE'RE ALL DOOMED!

[DoughtyOne]

  

I found it.  I thought you might have meant Ford so I gave it a shot.

Which of these two cars would you purchase?  Which was marketed?

It's so frustrating to watch the people who make decisions make the wrong ones.  I'd love to
own the one on the right.  I'd buy one within the next twelve months.