After the balance car was made into a toy, the inventor Segway was closer to the dream.

What is the balance car?

There may not be as many as a thousand Hamlet, but the answer is definitely not the only one.

But let Segway-Ninebot speak it out, and the answer seems to be very convincing.

Segway is the inventor of the balance car, which is what we often call the balance car ancestor. In 2015, it was completely acquired by Ninebot and became the new Segway-Ninebot new company.

Compared with Segway's previous products, perhaps everyone is more familiar with the Ninebot's No. 9 balance car in the Xiaomi ecological chain. It is very simple and fun. Compared to the balance wheel that can't be learned, the No. 9 balance car is stable. Standing on the ground, it is a qualified big toy.

Toys are the definition of the balance car now by Segway-Ninebot.

On the afternoon of July 26th, Segway-Ninebot held a new tasting in Wukesong, Beijing, bringing the Segway balance wheel W1 and the No. 9 balance car kart conversion kit that had been released overseas before. Jingdong's channel is on sale.

The shape of the split balance wheel is a bit like the skates we played when we were young, and the two feet are separated and stepped on the two balance wheels. The maximum speed is 12km/h, the battery life is about 45 minutes, the maximum load is 100kg, waterproof and dustproof, and the price is RMB 1999. It will be sold in Jingdong on August 2nd.

At the same time, there are two protective helmets for sale, which are 179 yuan and 199 yuan respectively.

Another new 9th Balance Car Kart conversion kit can transform the No. 9 balance car (including the Pro version) into a mini kart. The corresponding speeds of the three modes are 8km/h, 18km/h, 24km/h, the height limit is 130cm-190cm, the battery life is 15-18km, and the price is 2999 yuan. It is also sold in Jingdong on August 2nd.

The core concept of Segway-Ninebot is two, fun and easy to use.

This is the definition of Wang Ye, the president of Segway-Ninebot, in the future direction of the company. Of course, it is far from the "ambition" of Segway ten years ago. Today, we have shown us the definition of "fun", and in the "easy to use" aspect, we may be able to glimpse the leopard from the robotic distribution takeaway tube with the US team.

As for the Segway that once wanted to change the way people travel, it has proved by themselves that this road is not correct, at least Segway is not right. From tools to toys, is this the fate of the balance car?

The world's first human transport vehicle capable of balancing itself

When Dean Kamen first shouted this in "Good Morning America," he must have a dream of changing the way 6 billion people travel. Even so far, although until now, Segway-Ninebot users have just exceeded 10 million in the last month, and according to the goal of serving 1 billion people now, they can achieve a small target of 1%.

â–² Image from: Wikimedia Commons

To change the world, we must challenge existing rules and habits, and the ultimate goal is to let everyone use their own products. But Segway never seemed to have done this. They didn't take the product to the consumer market at all, but sold it to specific occasions and occupations.

â–² Image from: Wikimedia Commons

You can't say patrol cars as travel tools, they only run back and forth around the circle on limited occasions. But Segway has been deeply immersed in such awkwardness. Police patrol cars, airport patrol cars, golf course patrol cars or toys for wealthy people, Segway, who shouted to change the world, have never found out that their roads and their own slogans are already different.

This sense of misplacement also caused confusion in people's cognition, as if the handicapped party who wants to download Mito Xiuxiu turned into a professional PS interface when opening the software. The balance car is positioned at the consumer level or professional level. Segway can't figure it out, and this is directly reflected in the sales of the Segway balance car.

â–² Image from: GIT-SECURITY

In 2003, the Segway balance car sales performance was 6,000 units. Until 2009, Segway announced that its sales performance reached 50,000 units. In the year before the acquisition, Segway sold only 10,000 balance cars in 2014. . What is even more ridiculous is that these balance cars sold all over the world can only be sent back to the US headquarters for repairs.

Safety is the Achilles heel that the balance car has not been able to solve.

In 2015, although Beijing has already begun to ban the balance car on the road, in the Zhongguancun area, it is still possible to see people riding on the road from time to time on the road. That year was also a year of frequent car safety accidents. It is not uncommon to have accidents and injuries.

â–² Even Bolt also recruited. Image from: metrotimes.com

Safety is the Achilles heel that the balance car has not been able to solve. They can neither be classified in a motor vehicle nor classified in a non-motor vehicle, but the safety is significantly lower than both. There is a certain difficulty in handling. Even though the two-wheeled balance car has lowered the threshold of certain controls, the safety has not been significantly improved.

â–² Image from: ABC

In addition, the balance car at that time due to the expensive price, in addition to government procurement, basically can only be used as a toy for the rich, the celebrity effect that followed will magnify the poor experience of the balance car, the former US president in 2003 Bush had sneaked off the Segway from the pedestrians. This incident caused a big negative impact on Segway. Three months later, Segway had to recall 6,000 balance cars because they were running out of power. The balance car will easily lose balance. As for the tragedy of bringing your own CEO down the cliff, you all know it.

To make matters worse, the chaos of the small car in the cottage after the balance car entered the country has further aggravated the safety issue. The problem of spontaneous combustion of the battery is not uncommon. In 2015, it was also brought to court by a couple in Tennessee, USA. Naturally, the balance car they bought from Amazon is a knockoff from China.

In September 2016, Beijing, Shanghai and other local traffic control departments explicitly prohibited the balance of vehicles on the road.

What I care about is that it can be cool, it is a very fun adult toy.

I started playing 10 years ago, I like it very much, and I wrote a blog post in 2008. Later, we were very concerned about this market. What I care about is that it can be cool, it is a very fun adult toy, is not a short-distance traffic does not care.

How to go in the future? After Segway was acquired by Ninebot, Lei Jun pointed out the problem of balancing the development direction of the car.

â–² Image from: Sina Finance

There is no future for Segway to change the way for short trips. Especially in China, the problem of solving the "last mile" travel has already fallen on the shared bicycles that were smothered in the Red Sea. Segway-Ninebot can only think of another way, and follow the idea of ​​Lei Jun to make toys. It seems that It is the best route.

After that, Segway-Ninebot's products became lighter and more interesting. From the No. 9 balance car to the Mijia scooter, to the nearest separate balance wheel, the travel tools were all reduced to young toys, and the price was also from the original. The $6,000 all the way down to 1999 yuan.

â–² Image from: Fortune

After getting rid of the heavy responsibility, Segway-Ninebot's creativity has also been ignited. Since 2001, there have been almost no changes to the balance car products. For the first time, there have been products such as separate balance wheel and karting conversion kits. The lack of practicality in the past led to the balance car becoming a productivity tool. Nowadays, "cool" has been replaced. It is not only a word difference, it is an iteration of two categories and two concepts. .

Will Segway-Ninebot, which has changed its mind and made toys, succeed? Although it is impossible to make such an assertion, Segway-Ninebot is far more aware of who it is than Segway, and knows how to please users.

Although the dream of changing the way people travel is no longer possible, the current Segway-Ninebot's desire to "make everyone own their own products" is a little closer.