back to article Secretive Brit millionaire buys Segway Inc

A British millionaire inventor has bought Segway Inc - the maker of electric pogo sticks that promised to change the world when it launched back in 2001. The deal apparently went through on Christmas Eve, but news only emerged today thanks to a blog post on Segway.com. The post said the firm had been bought by Jimi Heselden, …

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  1. Pavlovs well trained dog

    Holland

    The Dutch police use them

    or. Correction.

    I have seen two Dutch police at Schiphol aboard Segways zooting about like loons.

    Tho I haven't seen any Segway mounted cops in and around the town.

    Foot mounted - yes

    Bike mounted - yes

    Horse mounted - yes...

    1. Robert E A Harvey
      Alien

      Schiphol

      I too have seen robocops at the airport. They even have little flashing blue lights.

      Wierd, or what?

  2. shay mclachlan

    dem things

    'One Reg hack thought he saw a pair of two wheel ploddies patrolling Dublin airport last year, but he was very very hungover at the time'.

    Bladdered or not, yer man was right. The Gardai have indeed been using Segways at Dublin airport recently. They do look like feckin eejits mind.

  3. paulf
    Coat

    Perhaps his first move should be....

    ...to cut the price a bit to something a bit more wallet friendly?!. I checked out the cost a couple of years ago and they were five grand for the basic model, with the off road version a load more. They're kinda funky in a geeky way, but not for five k. There are small cars that cost not much more than that.

    Of course if key investor Jesus H Jobs had allowed them to put an Apple logo on them they'd be cheap at twice the price of course :p <troll alert!>

    Mines the one next to the sturdy but comfortable walking shoes...

    P

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Also in a hotel in Aachen

    I think they were using them for tours around the town or something.

    Decided not to have a go as I was pretty pissed for the 3 days I stayed there (Christmas markets!) and they had "face plant" written all over them.

  5. Blake St. Claire
    WTF?

    millions selling super sized sandbags?

    Where do I sign up for that sweet deal.

    I can make chicken wire and fabric bags all day long too.

  6. Natalie Gritpants
    Thumb Up

    Saw one at Eindhoven airport too

    Being ridden by the aeroplane parking attendant. Not a bad idea, might be the niche that fits the segway: Large flat distances to cover, need to be visible, don't want to be getting in and out of a car.

    1. paulf
      Joke

      Wow - that's some parking attendant

      How badly/inconsiderately do you have to park an aeroplane to get a parking ticket?

      Surely a cherry picker would have been more appropriate, or a pair of binoculars to check that the pilot had correctly paid+displayed his ticket on the windscreen?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Saw one at Eindhoven airport too

      They would be better off with Bromptons. On second thoughts, better not as Bromptons don't make the rider look like a real tosser and have a high resale value which makes them a thieve's dream come true. Don't want any thieves hanging around airports, do we now?

  7. AndrewH
    Unhappy

    ..and the clampers

    I nearly got clamped by a Segway riding parking attendant in Dublin's docklands a few months back.

  8. Graham Marsden
    Dead Vulture

    Lembit Optik?

    I'll drink to that!

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What do Stockholm and Milton Keynes have in common?

    The answer is Segways!

    One is a glorious Baltic port with stunning architecture, beautiful people and an enthusiastic embrace of the herring. The other has a large shopping centre.

    But both of them are natural homes for the Segway. American visitors can zip around the Swedish capital on guided Segway tours if they find the city's frighteningly efficient public transport, or generously proportioned pavements all too European for comfort.

    As for the little utopia that is Milton Keynes - the security guards at 'The Centre: MK' as it likes to be called, stand on them so they can see over the heads of shoppers.

  10. Lars Silver badge
    Happy

    I can also report one

    There is this TV program dealing with guns and how to blow things up. One of the guys is wearing a beret, and his friend is sometimes seen on a segway.

  11. Pete 43

    Illegal on UK roads

    aren't they? That can only /help/ sales

  12. Inachu
    Alert

    I see lots of segway riders!

    I see them as security detail roaming inside shopping malls.

    I still want one when the report in 2001 stated that the sales price should fall to about $2,000.

    Even still today the price for just one Segway is $6,000.

    I am upset!

    Perhaps the inventor should have a segway bundled with the purchase of a new car.

  13. Stevie

    Bah!

    Fools!

    The Segway is Democracy on Two Wheels!

  14. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    Never thought the Segway was a mass market item

    It always *seemed* more for warehouses/offices/offical use. A transporter of persons, rather than a personal transporter.

    Only time will tell if this is genius grade strategic vision or a big fail but thumbs up for the time being.

  15. Steven Walker
    Thumb Up

    Torremolino

    The beach patrol use them on the Paseo Maritimo in Torremolinos. It is quite comical seeing them trying to hunt down cyclists. The only people they can stop are the oldest slowest grannies.

  16. Ben Cooper
    Stop

    Problem is...

    ...without a change in UK law, they're mopeds. Which means road tax, license plates, insurance, Single Vehicle Type Appoval*, moped or car driving license, and motorbike helmet to ride one on public roads. Oh, and they're not legal on pavements either.

    *Which they probably wouldn't get, lacking such things as indicators, mirrors etc.

  17. Michael Wright

    More official Sinclairway use

    Saw a member of the Italian railway police swanning along a platform at Bologna on one; he looked a tiny bit embarrassed.

  18. Mike Flugennock

    Cops on Segways in Wash DC

    I live on Capitol Hill in DC, about five blocks from Union Station, and have seen some seriously out-of-shape cops patrolling the main hall whiile on my way down to the Metro. They're basically a small step up from moped-riding cops on the Dorkiness Scale. They get pretty goddamn' rude with them, too, using them to prod people around and barging through crowds at the station, just because they can get away with it.

    I honestly don't know which is more humiliating: being harassed on the street at a protest by a cop on a moped, or being jerked around at Union Station by some fat-assed doughnut-gobbler on a Segway.

  19. Andy Taylor

    They have them in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre

    As it's apparently the world's longest shopping centre, you won't be surprised to hear that the security guards there use Segways.

  20. Mike Flugennock
    FAIL

    They use them for tour groups here in Wash, DC...

    ...and they may as well have an electric sign hanging off the ass of the last person in line, reading CAUTION, SLOW DORKMOBILES.

  21. JaitcH
    Thumb Down

    What a waste of money!

    Some clown has one of these things in Ho Chi Minh City/SaiGon. An advertising company has about 20 here, too.

    The sidewalks are, in the main, so rough these dangerous objects have use the roadway.

    I like getting in front on them then slamming (?) on my scooter's brakes just to see these riders battle against kinetic energy.

    They should be banned.

  22. toyah
    FAIL

    Mall cops....

    They have Segs at Arundel Mills mall in Maryland, and it's as funny as hell to watch a tubby security guard going "A over B" when he tries to wander around the stores only to come across a low CD Cabinet........WHOOPS, that's it officer, get up quickly, no one saw you, Honest!

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Schiphol...

    Last time I was there, the Schiphol airport staff (and airport police) weren't on Segways, but rather a larger, four-wheeled electric trolley that they can not only sit on, and also use to carry things from place to place with. Much more useful, and a good illustration of the Segway's stupidest oversight: what's the point of having electric wheels if you've still got to hold your heavy bags!

    (yes, they do drive them like crazed maniacs, though!)

  24. david 12 Silver badge

    Took the tour in Paris and loved it.

    I kind of suspect that the tour leaders were all Mormons on the world missionary tour, but it worked for us.

    And I think the Washington DC tour would probably work too - the Washington mall (were all the monuments and museums are) is long and flat. You really don't need a guide to find your way around the mall (it's long and flat), but it's a fast, easy, fun way to get from one place to another, particularly if you're a tourist and already doing a lot of walking.

  25. dom
    Paris Hilton

    Paris

    I recommend the Segway tour of Paris, is better than trudging around and you're in with the action..

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    lets get the laws sorted. i want one.

    hi,

    i've ridden on Segways - and i think they're great little devices. especially with the luggage panniers.

    in the UK we need the laws changing or special exemption for this class of device. they are perfectly safe on pavements if ridden by a proficient rider...heck, i'd even say lets just ensure that riders have to pass a proficiency test. i see plenty of cyclists riding like crazy of pavements at much higher speeds than a segway goes.

    Segway++

  27. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    @ What a waste of money

    As street transport yes.

    Now what about the same technolgy in a wheelchair that can climb curbs but can't fall over?

    Or a wheelchair that holds somebody in a standing position so they can live in a normal house and work in a normal office/factory, reach items on shelves etc?

    Or a mini forklift that can fit in narrower aisles in a warehouse

  28. Winkypop Silver badge
    FAIL

    Segways

    Tin foil hat syndrome

  29. Ascylto
    Pirate

    Need for a collective noun ...

    I saw a party of tourists on Segways in Vienna. What a brilliant idea.

    However, we need a collective noun to describe them. Any ideas?

    A 'seg' of Segways

    A 'caramba' of Segways ...

    come on, you can do better.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge

      Noun.

      I've no idea about the collective noun, but I do know that the place you rent them from is called an "arsehattery".

      I was in a park in a major european city not too long back, where they had a fenced-off bit in which they rented out segways. In there were some tourists being kitted out with helmets and gingerly getting the hang of it. One of my mates waved in the general direction and observed: "Look at that arsehattery". The name stuck.

      I reckon that a camel is a horse designed by a committee in much the same way as a segway is a quadbike designed by a soulless git.

  30. Trygve Henriksen

    There IS a legitimate use for these...

    The owner of Monster cable has one because he can't walk(he can stand, though) so it allows him to get around.

    This was mentioned in a TV show about West coast customs on Discovery Channel.

    (They customised one for him)

    Also, there's a 'Segs for Vets'(or something like that) group that raise money to buy Segways for disabled war veterans in America.

    But other than cases like these, I can't see any reason for this two-wheeled toy.

  31. dave 93
    Go

    Rent a Seg in Vienna

    There is a big dealership in the middle of town, next to a Ferarri dealer, if I am not mistaken, and anyone can walk in and rent one - for unsupervised use. It does look like fun, as it goes. 60 quid for 3 hours.

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