Ninebot is now a "Segway" brand

[SegwayUtah]

Interesting, big news... According to CNN, BusinessWire and other sources, Segway has announced that NineBot will now be a brand under the Segway umbrella.

Segway even has Ninebot products on its main website now:
http://www.segway.com/products/consu...style/mini-pro

This week has to be the single-fastest "new product introduction" from Segway since day 1

[Burke2]

But there's nothing on the Ninebot unit, charger or manual that says "Segway." Probably not the box, either, but I didn't look.

The Ninebot E+ is a sweet little machine, though, overall. It rides smoothly and looks sharp. It's so nice to have something lighter and more portable, and it only took 13 years and a takeover. However, having ridden one for four days and having read the manual, I have a LOT of questions about discrepancies among the unit, the manual, and Segway's new website touting the Ninebot E+. Maybe I'm just confused. We'll see if we get any answers.

Janice
Helper to Segway Orange County

[SegwayUtah]

Originally Posted by Burke2

But there's nothing on the Ninebot unit, charger or manual that says "Segway." Probably not the box, either, but I didn't look.

Yeah. The new Segway Robot (which it appears is officially called the Segway APR...Advanced Personal Robot) is based on a Ninebot base but Segway branded. And the new "Ninebot By Segway miniPRO" looks like it may have "Ninebot by Segway" branding on it. But I can tell that either Ninebot/Segway is hesitant to replace their existing branding completely or Ninebot/Segway wants to preserve some market differentiation between brands. It reminds me of "Linksys by Cisco"...which allowed Cisco to sell sub-$100 consumer gear without diluting their enterprise brand too much.

Originally Posted by Burke2

However, having ridden one for four days and having read the manual, I have a LOT of questions about discrepancies among the unit, the manual, and Segway's new website touting the Ninebot E+. Maybe I'm just confused. We'll see if we get any answers.

That reminds me of a lot of Chinese-engineered products that I have seen/bought. Discrepancies in manuals, confusing instructions, lots of icons and capacitive buttons plastered all over the unit...these are often tell-tell signs of the engineering culture.

For better or worse, it sounds like Segway is basically a Chinese company now. It sounds like Ninebot was already making some reasonably high-quality gear and I'm hoping that the Bedford secret sauce rubs off on the entire product line. At least our beloved Segway lives on. Woot

[Burke2]

The manual was translated from Chinese-speak to decent English, so it pretty much makes sense, but what I read didn't quite match what I rode.

Janice