

The story behind Dean Kamen's combustive meeting with Steve Jobs - alexwg
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3533.html

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caudicus
That was a great article - highlighting everything that was wrong with Segway.
I'm totally ordering the book, kind of hidden away at the bottom -
[http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/...](http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=6730&referral=4046&_requestid=67477)

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mynameishere
_everything that was wrong_

I don't think that's true. The real problems were:

1) It looked like a medical device--something for cripples.

2) It _pretended_ to be a replacement for cars, but was in fact a replacement
for walking and bicycling--both of which are superior and cheaper to scooting
around. That miscalculation was why they thought it was "revolutionary".

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thaumaturgy
Basically right. The technology of the thing is revolutionary, and it's based
off the same technology that Kamen used in his wheelchair design. His
wheelchair actually is revolutionary -- this is not.

They completely screwed up the application of the thing. It doesn't solve any
problems for me that are worth the price tag.

If the only thing I'm transporting is me, then:

\- I'd rather walk, if I have the time, \- or, ride a bike, if I'm in more of
a hurry, \- or jump in the car.

So, I think human transportation is out.

What I think might have worked is if the thing were designed to be a cargo
transporter. I wouldn't mind being able to ride down to the grocery store on
my bike, towing a stable self-powered cart on a simple leash behind me, to
carry 50 pounds of groceries (or tools, or computer hardware, or whatever) on
the way back.

That would be kinda cool.

But not $4500 cool.

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andreyf
I understand what they're talking about, but I don't get it - what makes it
look so horribly geeky and dorky?

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Segway_Polizei_4.jpg>

Can someone elucidate?

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blored
That's what I said to myself about HP, Dell, Lenovo until I bought a MBP
(Macbook Pro).

It's tough to imagine 'what it could be' unless you actually see it.

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scorxn
Regardless of how the thing is skinned, the person using it is still a foot
too tall, wearing a helmet and gliding around like the nun from Blues
Brothers. The operation of these things looks infinitely more unusual than the
device itself.

~~~
andreyf
Good points. To clarify what I meant - I get that it looks geeky, but I can't
put my finger on what one would do about it.

Is this something fixable?

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delackner
I have only read this excerpt, not the whole book, but the author appears to
fail to understand that when you are talking about the design of a product
that you only have one chance to get right, civility and head nodding is the
enemy. You HAVE to be able to tell the founder that everything is wrong and
the release date should be pushed, because if everything is wrong and you
release anyway, you are done.

The points Steve (and Bezos) made in the excerpt were spot on and ignoring
them is part of why the Segway is so expensive (they built their own plant)
and ugly.

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bstadil
I read the book about a year ago and con recommend it. It is an interesting
insight into how a macho engineering organization works and operate. The Jobs
incident is somewhat misleading. The organization and Kamen himself wanted as
little interface with the financial backers as they could get away with.

