Dean Kamen: How the Segway Became Hyped Beyond Control

Steve Jobs said that Dean Kamen's Segway would change the world-that didn't quite happen (except for maybe GOB Bluth). Kamen explains how the hype got out of control.

Taken from interview by IEEE Spectrum; full video available at http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/video?id=281

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• dean
• kamen
• segway
• hype
• steve
• jobs
• electronics
• gadget

[jflash214]

"will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy" Dean Kamen

definitely not an overstatement

[zerobeat18]

The Segway is an impractical method of transportation.  It's way slower than a bicycle and about the same speed as slower moving roller-skates or skateboard or scooter, but it provides zero exercise. And there are already powered methods of transportation for incapable people only needing to go at the speed of a runner. The Segway is only marketably valid as piece of [expensive] fun.

[Danila1]

And look at where it lead Segway. Investors lost money, the sales were only about 55000 to date (should have been tens of times more), so there is no economy of scale, the price can't come down, the demand is increasing very slowly (if at all) and Segway is a complete failure.

Could it have changed the world? Absolutely. A competent product launch would lead to millions of units sold and the price dropping to 1000$, leading to tens of millions being sold and everyone owning one.

FY, Dean.

[Danila1]

And nobody controlled the leak, nobody was working with the press, with the bloggers. This is just bad management. Dean was controlling all aspects of DEKA, so he is to blame for the fiasco to contain the hype.

Without responsible coverage people could not take Segway seriously when it was unveiled. But still, Dean fucked the situation up even more by losing every big deal with large corporate users (such as the Post Office).

[Danila1]

Take this with a grain of salt. Segway failed to do proper marketing and user testing because Kamen was paranoid about showing Segway to outsiders. The first marketing user test occured just a few months before the release.

Also, it's just incompetent to ignore the existance of hype after the leak. Look back at the release - it looked as if nobody was actually in charge of it. There were almost no marketing materials, nothing (minor startups do better than that).