Segway Personal Transporter

Also known as Segway PT, Segway HT, Ginger, IT

Cause of death

Killed by indifference

Made by

Segway Inc.

It was too expensive for pedestrians and too slow for roads, so it ended up owned mostly by tour operators and mall security.

Before launch, under the codenames Ginger and IT, the Segway was rumoured to be so significant that cities would be redesigned around it, and Steve Jobs reportedly said it could be bigger than the PC. What arrived cost several thousand dollars, weighed 45 kilos, and made the rider look faintly ridiculous, which turned out to matter enormously. It sold in the tens of thousands rather than the predicted tens of thousands per week, and production ended after nineteen years.