Open letter from german/austrian and swiss Segway enthusiasts/professionals to Segway

[mathiegi]

Open letter from german/austrian and swiss Segway enthusiasts/professionals to Segway Inc. / Ninebot :

In 2001, a true and innovative new american legend was born. Not only did the first Segway appeal as if it had broken the laws of physics, moreover it captured the imagination of generations. This initial fascination for the technical revolution turned into temporary skepticism, when the first firmware problems with the Segway occured. Redundancy and a functional security system were key arguments for the Segway and were a proposal to the customers. Segway cleared out the problems with the initial firmware and has since then maintained the image of a safe transportation/tour vehicle.

What us as german Segway worries now are a couple of prevailing issues:

SEGWAY as a brand is known among almost all age groups. Whenever gliding with the PT, people rarely fail to name the brand of the vehicle. In its essence, this is something, other companies would wish for. However, every brand requires maintenance. In this regard, current management measures are lacking effectiveness. We have had the same SEGWAY models for almost 7 years now besides the facelifted i2/x2 SE. More and more accessories and PTs seem to be manufactured and designed in a "let's do it quick and dirty" manner (SE gearboxes, SE touring boxes).

A lot of the enthusiast are also in the SEGWAY touring business. They are on the forefront of the SEGWAY brand and deserve respect as well as support for their continuous effort in fascinating the people. Without them, the brand would have simply disappeared. Throughout the years, those people have seen such a vast of devastating decision (unannounced price drops pp.) from Segway and their german distributor but have stood with the brand.

The merger between Ninebot and SEGWAY and the way that the new company is operating worries us. Fully redundant and safe has been one of the key arguments for the SEGWAY PT. Now that Ninebot (of which no model is fully redundant) is being pushed to the market, we see the SEGWAY brand to be abused in order to push Ninebot sales, as there is no clear line for consumers anymore to see wether the vehicle is fully redundant and therefore safe. Please keep in mind: All crashes and possible quality issues will not only harm the Ninebot but also the SEGWAY brand and will create a race to the bottom.

We encourage you to keep our annotations in mind when developing Ninebot and SEGWAY further.

Best regards,

the german/austrian and swiss SEGWAY enthusiasts.

[energetic]

Interesting and nice.

Could you please explain what are the signs of abuse to the Segway brand?

Are you referring to accessories and PTs that seem to be manufactured elsewhere? I am curious and I can't remember now, but is there a list of those parts being manufactured i.e. in a different country? I agree that quality control may be an issue here.

From my side, what really worries me lately is that people think that those HoverBoards per kilo are actually made by Segway.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-n...ptured-7101930

They either calling them Segways, or mini Segways. I wonder if there is a descent legal dept to handle such an abuse in Segway's brand name. Sellers use Segway brand to promote them.

[rwoynaro]

Originally Posted by energetic

Interesting and nice.

Could you please explain what are the signs of abuse to the Segway brand?

Are you referring to accessories and PTs that seem to be manufactured elsewhere? I am curious and I can't remember now, but is there a list of those parts being manufactured i.e. in a different country? I agree that quality control may be an issue here.

From my side, what really worries me lately is that people think that those HoverBoards per kilo are actually made by Segway.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-n...ptured-7101930

They either calling them Segways, or mini Segways. I wonder if there is a descent legal dept to handle such an abuse in Segway's brand name. Sellers use Segway brand to promote them.

I experience the same observation, even from engineers who could understand the difference. Just yesterday, someone basically remarked that I am using a bigger hoverboard. I indicated there is as much difference in capability and quality control in manufacture between a hoverboard and a segway as there is between a Mercedes Benz and a Yugo. They both have wheels and use lithium batteries, thats where the similarity ends.

[terryp]

Can you elaborate on not being fully redundant? What parts that are redundant on the Segway are not on the Ninebot models? (Just curious, since no one here seems to have seen the details that you apparently have.)

Originally Posted by mathiegi

Open letter from german/austrian and swiss Segway enthusiasts/professionals to Segway Inc. / Ninebot :

In 2001, a true and innovative new american legend was born. Not only did the first Segway appeal as if it had broken the laws of physics, moreover it captured the imagination of generations. This initial fascination for the technical revolution turned into temporary skepticism, when the first firmware problems with the Segway occured. Redundancy and a functional security system were key arguments for the Segway and were a proposal to the customers. Segway cleared out the problems with the initial firmware and has since then maintained the image of a safe transportation/tour vehicle.

What us as german Segway worries now are a couple of prevailing issues:

SEGWAY as a brand is known among almost all age groups. Whenever gliding with the PT, people rarely fail to name the brand of the vehicle. In its essence, this is something, other companies would wish for. However, every brand requires maintenance. In this regard, current management measures are lacking effectiveness. We have had the same SEGWAY models for almost 7 years now besides the facelifted i2/x2 SE. More and more accessories and PTs seem to be manufactured and designed in a "let's do it quick and dirty" manner (SE gearboxes, SE touring boxes).

A lot of the enthusiast are also in the SEGWAY touring business. They are on the forefront of the SEGWAY brand and deserve respect as well as support for their continuous effort in fascinating the people. Without them, the brand would have simply disappeared. Throughout the years, those people have seen such a vast of devastating decision (unannounced price drops pp.) from Segway and their german distributor but have stood with the brand.

The merger between Ninebot and SEGWAY and the way that the new company is operating worries us. Fully redundant and safe has been one of the key arguments for the SEGWAY PT. Now that Ninebot (of which no model is fully redundant) is being pushed to the market, we see the SEGWAY brand to be abused in order to push Ninebot sales, as there is no clear line for consumers anymore to see wether the vehicle is fully redundant and therefore safe. Please keep in mind: All crashes and possible quality issues will not only harm the Ninebot but also the SEGWAY brand and will create a race to the bottom.

We encourage you to keep our annotations in mind when developing Ninebot and SEGWAY further.

Best regards,

the german/austrian and swiss SEGWAY enthusiasts.

[JohnG]

Don't hold your breath waiting for an actual response from the company...