FC: Responses to IT revealed, Dean Kamen shows off mystery device

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous message:

"IT revealed: Dean Kamen shows off mystery transportion device"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02867.html

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Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 11:05:21 -0500
From: "Robin (Roblimo) Miller" <robin () roblimo com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: IT revealed: Dean Kamen shows off mystery transportion device

I can predict several immediate markets for Segway/Ginger I doubt that its 
inventor, Mr. Kamen, has considered:

1) Purse snatching and pocket picking. Imagine gliding though a crowd on 
your Segway, cutting women's purse straps and men's pockets with a sharp 
knife, than making your getaway faster than most people can run.

2) Street corner drug dealers. Hear that "Five - OH!" shout, roll up the 
alley and through the streets faster than the cops can pursue.

3) Xtreme sports. It won't be long before "hot rod kits" are available for 
Segway. 45 MPH versions will not only sell heavily to illegal users, but 
will allow the development of a whole new, exciting series of sports. Think 
roller derby at highway speeds. Whooo!

4) Resales. A $3000 item that can be loaded easily into a car after 
the  lock/chain is cut is going to get stolen like mad. An entire industry 
is going to grow up around the theft, reprogamming, and resale of these things.

We won't mention the havoc bike messengers in place like New York and 
Washington D.C. are going to create when they get their hands on Segways or 
the "sidewall rage" Segway riders will inevitably provoke.

The Segway is a great idea doomed to failure.

- Robin "Roblimo" Miller
  http://slashdot.org
  http://newsforge.com
  http://linux.com
  http://osdn.com

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From: "rafonda" <rafonda () webworkz com>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: IT revealed: Dean Kamen shows off mystery transportion device
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 12:08:58 -0500

Here is my prediction.
As soon as they have had time to steal some, the malls will be invaded by
fubu purse snatchers swooping down on easy marks and 'scooting' away ... too
fast to chase, and too mobile to follow effectivly. They will be a nuisance
and menace to pedistrians; they will be ridden into every inappropriate
place, and be the biggest pain in the ass you can imagine.
RAF

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From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart () pobox com>
Subject: Re: IT revealed: Dean Kamen shows off mystery transportion
  device
To: declan () well com, cypherpunks () lne com
Cc: politech () politechbot com
Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 09:46:52 -0800

At 09:53 AM 12/03/2001 -0500, Declan McCullagh forwarded articles on
the Ginger Hype Generation Machine finally being revealed.

Boy, what bad timing Kamen has.  Not only is it too late for
Christmas sales (if in fact the things are shipping anytime soon,
as opposed to this being a demo for next Christmas shipping),
but overall it's a year or two too late to catch the Razor Scooter fad
and the San Francisco geek toys market, where there are
some people still commuting on $500 electric scooters
(Doug Barnes used to haul one on Caltrain, for instance),
but an N-thousand-dollar device that's only usable for short hauls
within cities, it'll be a real tough sell.

The real question is whether, next year when he's trying to sell quantity,
anybody will list to the next round of hype.  On the other hand,
this announcement is at least timed to keep people from
totally forgetting him as more dot-com vaporware,
so maybe it's not that bad timing after all.

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