I trust many of us recall the hoopla that surrounded the introduction of one of the more underwhelming products to hit the market, the Segway scooter. It was going to remake American cities, be the greatest invention in the history of the world, a reshaper of civilizations. That went on for at least a month or two before the product rollout turned out to be ... a scooter. And a really expensive one at that.
Apparently that same ad agency is handling the account of a surveying equipment manufacturer that is now trying to run the same play. I trust others got the mailer, too. Unless the new product uses only an independently reproducible bearing basis, I'm prepared for the disappointment.
Mine went immediately into file 13.
I ripped it in half...then in the circular file.
They sure seem to be spending a lot on marketing.
Heck with the mailer; the emails I'm getting say if I would only fly to Vegas next month and shell out a grand to attend their conference I can have this game changing technology shown to me IN PERSON by the development team.
If they keep this up, they'll be the third surveying equipment manufacturer to alienate me...my only recourse will be to go to Colorado and have TDD teach me how to survey with a banjo.
> Heck with the mailer; the emails I'm getting say if I would only fly to Vegas next month and shell out a grand to attend their conference I can have this game changing technology shown to me IN PERSON by the development team.
Doesn't everyone plunk down a g-note just to get a demo of some product that is still in beta testing?
Thankfully I don't get the trade mags and have (so far) avoided getting on the mailing list. Which company is it?
oops...sorry
I thought this was a post about the Henway.
oops...sorry
What's a hen weigh?
oops...sorry
About 5 pounds..
> Thankfully I don't get the trade mags and have (so far) avoided getting on the mailing list. Which company is it?
Well, all you really need to know is that this product that is evidently still in the beta test phase is going to turn everything you thought you knew upside down and is going to cost a ferocious amount of money, which is why the Las Vegas rollout. You need show girls for that sort of a deal or something like that.
I was planning on charging the whole trip on the card they sent me and sending it back from where it came.;-)
> I was planning on charging the whole trip on the card they sent me and sending it back from where it came.
Yeah, I pity the person who is enough of a rube to fall for a crude pitch like that.
Whatever Leica has come up with, I'm pretty sure I can't afford it. However, I admit to being very curious as to what it is. Not $1,000 curious, but very curious nonetheless.
> Whatever Leica has come up with, I'm pretty sure I can't afford it. However, I admit to being very curious as to what it is. Not $1,000 curious, but very curious nonetheless.
Well, the good news is that in order for the product to actually be viable, you won't need to go to a hotel room in Las Vegas to see it.
Interestingly my wife used a Segway successfully as a mobility aid for a couple of years until her MS progressed to the point where she could not longer climb on and off safely due to her loss of balance.
It was worth it.
> Interestingly my wife used a Segway successfully as a mobility aid for a couple of years until her MS progressed to the point where she could not longer climb on and off safely due to her loss of balance.
There definitely was a niche market for the Segway, and I'm glad to hear that Diane was able to employ it, but that wasn't how it was marketed, if you'll recall. It was some invention that was going to reshape the American city, a technology as fundamental as the light bulb or the internal combustion engine.
I absolutely agree with you on the overhyped marketing and price point. As a slave to 'cool gadgets' it certainly caught my attention in the early days but I could not imagine every day use at the scale the developers were hoping.
It was when a local dealer set up shop next to one of our survey equipment suppliers that I had the opportunity to see it as a handicapped mobility aid with much more panache for her than a typical power chair or scooter.
But beyond that, it had limited applications in this usual winter wonderland, particularly wrt to municipal bylaws severely restricting its use.
yeah, the inventor died on his.
Actually, didn't he die flying off of his?