Segway stopped making its Human Transporter in July.
The company ended up selling just 150,000 of the scooters, mainly to warehouses, police departments, and some vacation destinations.
But in 2001, before its unveiling, it was the most speculated-about device on planet Earth. Inventor Dean Kamen called the device 'Ginger' and kept the particulars top secret. Kamen egged on a full year of speculation about the nature of the device, claiming it would replace the automobile, and make navigating of cities effortless.
In a genius campaign of hype, the world swooned to pronouncements of tech stars. Steve Jobs of Apple said the introduction of Ginger would be similar to the debut of the personal computer, according to Hackaday.
Kids thought they would have a movie-like hoverboard. Families wondered if it were a flying SUV.
On December 3, 2001, the world found out Ginger was actually named Segway and it was…a scooter. Just an electric scooter, after all this?
In truth, it was a very unique scooter. Microprocessors and gyroscopes reacted to subtle changes in pressure to make it move at 12 mph.
But it was also difficult to master and it weighed 70 pounds. Where could you park it if you took it to work? At a cost of $3,000, kids and the elderly, two groups that were said to be a market, couldn't really afford it.
