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The story behind Dean Kamen's combustive meeting with Steve Jobs
11–14 of 14 posts
Re: The story behind Dean Kamen's combustive meeting with Steve Jobs
#12I 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?
Well, the riders in the picture don't carry the same sort of power as, say, a horsed rider. To me, the lot of them look like they're reliant on some overblown geriatric walkers.
Re: The story behind Dean Kamen's combustive meeting with Steve Jobs
#13That 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/...
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".
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.
Re: The story behind Dean Kamen's combustive meeting with Steve Jobs
#14I 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.