Two Discussions on Segway Ht and Kamen’s Priorities

1. What are the most critical issues that will influence the commercial success of Segway HT?

Product development phase which ended up to expensive price. They put too much focus into technological advance and scientific approach of their product. They believed by developing product that is very advanced in technological aspect, people will go buy their product no matter how expensive it is. They ended up overspending their development budget and leads to a very advanced and futuristic transportation device named Segway. Its just they forgot that the price of the product itself become very expensive. High price tag clearly become their huge problem to gain commercial success.

Poor market analysis which ended up to wrong target market. They planned to sell Segway as a mass produced device to become a new transportation device. Based on their survey, market have very positive response to something futuristic and high tech. But they forgot that most of their initial customer who have specific budget for Segway. So no matter how technologically advanced the Segway is, if it’s too expensive, they are not buying it. After they realized their initial target will not buy their product, DEKA ended up offering to specific target market segment. For example: Police, Tour operators, and etc.

2. What should Kamen’s priorities be over the next 12 months?

They need to really focus to lower down their operating cost. Releasing cheaper, less complicated version of Segway will be a good idea. The biggest reason why most people which is their initial target market don’t want to buy Segway is simply because of its ridiculous price tag. It cost 4-5times over small scooter. Another reason, it’s very complicated to control Segway. Gyroscopic sensor maybe are one of the most precise sensor, but in real life Segway cause a lot of accident because the user unable to control it. Price of this