Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways. New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic system. Steve Jobs said it would be bigger than the PC. Some dubbed it the most hyped product since the Apple Macintosh. An era of secrecy bubbled up in the year about an invention that would change the world as people knew it. People speculated it was a hydrogen-powered hovercraft, or a device that would break the rules of gravity itself. Manufacturing at the Bedford, New Hampshire, plant will stop July A total of 21 employees will be laid off as a result, while 12 will stay on temporarily to handle various matters, including warranties and repairs on the Segways that have already been sold.
Five employees working on Segway Discovery scooters will remain. Kamen imagined it could be the ultimate urban transport vehicle between home and work. He flooded the media with appearances on the Segway, doing the late-night rounds with a technological bravado that Elon Musk echoes today. At the turn of the millennium, an era fueled by technological optimism, the Segway was an instantaneous icon that felt equal parts absurd and inevitable.
But the Segway never sold millions of units, or even hundreds of thousands of units. Kamen sold the company in , which was sold again, to the Chinese mobility company Ninebot, in China's Singles' Day sees sales growth slow as festival's 'worship of turnover' criticised. To add injury to insult, many cities banned the two-wheelers after a series of unfortunate accidents - and under UK law, they can only be used on private property.
Ten months later, the year-old died after the Segway he was riding careered off a 9m 30ft cliff near his country estate in West Yorkshire. A coroner concluded that Mr Heselden had probably "got into difficulty" while reversing the vehicle so a man walking his dog could get past.
In , former US president George W Bush was lucky to avoid injury when he tumbled off a Segway at his parents' summer home in Maine in And in , a cameraman on a Segway hit Usain Bolt as he did a victory lap after winning a m race in Beijing. In , Segway got into the electric scooter business - just as the light, inexpensive and easy-to-ride two-wheelers became a common sight on the street. We were all supposed to be riding Segways by now. The company was supposed to be rolling in cash, the scooter's inventor a modern day Jay Gatsby minus the bootlegging and murder.
It didn't happen: Today, the Segway is a punch line, a way for mall security guards to prevent sore feet. So what happened? It's not that it didn't work: Envisioned as a way for people to get from home to work in urban areas, the Segway is a technological marvel.
It can maintain its balance better than a human and is much more fuel efficient than a car, which are a pain to drive and park over a short journey. No, the problems that sank the Segway weren't technological.
They were social. Dean Kamen, the self-balancing scooter's inventor, nicknamed it "Ginger" after Fred Astaire's musical partner Ginger Rogers. Kamen's previous invention, a robotic wheelchair that could climb stairs was nicknamed Fred Upstairs.
Before it launched, the Segway was said to revolutionize the way cities are laid out and how people get around them. Kamen expected to be selling 10, units a week by the end of —that's half a million a year. In the next six years, Segway sold just 30, units, according to Forbes. When a rider steps on, on-board computers, sensors and motors keep it upright.
The rider commands the scooter by shifting his weight forward or backward, and steers by pushing handlebar left or right.
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