MONTREAL - What is "it" doing now?
"It," as it was referred to before people knew what it was, is the Segway Personal Transporter. It was supposed to be the next big thing when it was unveiled in 2001 after a lot of hype about what it could do to move people around in urban settings.
The Segway is an electric scooter that's able to balance itself upright, making it difficult for its user to fall off or tip over.
Seven years later, the Segway is still trying to get a bigger spot on sidewalks in Canada and wider use.
But it has found users in celebrities, police forces, tourists and environmentalists.
Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather has one in his Las Vegas home. Hip-hop star 50 Cent is riding one in a video at the boxer's home while Mayweather is trash-talking competitor Oscar de la Hoya.
In California's Silicon Valley, the local royalty wield mallets and play polo on Segways and Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak is among them.
The Segway has its detractors. PCWorld cited the Segway as an example when one of its writers recently listed the 10 worst consumer tech trends. The Segway fell into the category of "over-promising and under-delivering."
Charles Bombardier, grandson of the inventor of the Ski-Doo snowmobile, is the Canadian distributor for the Segway, which costs about $5,500.
He's philosophical about the changes he believes the Segway can bring.
"It's just the starting point of something more," said Bombardier. "It's clean technology and also a way of life."
"You're not going to solve all of the problems, but if you can solve a few and just reduce a bit of the clogging and congestion and pollution in cities we could be part of that," Bombardier said.
Charles Bombardier also has a private research centre bearing his own name whose mission is to develop, manufacture and sell eco-friendly recreational products.
Segway inventor Dean Kamen has said it was designed to use the same space as a pedestrian, and can go wherever a person can walk, but farther and more quickly in an environmentally friendly way.
It was also promoted as a device that would allow people to make better use of their time and help solve urban problems such as pollution and congestion.
It can move at speeds of up to 20 kilometres an hour and is designed for sidewalk use. The product has had two voluntary safety recalls.
The hype happened in 2001 when details of the Segway, also known as Project Ginger, leaked out through a book proposal and patent application. Before it was unveiled later that year, it was touted as a revolutionary product.
Tech analyst Andy Walker remembers the hype.
"But it became clear very quickly that it was going to face some, let's say, uphill challenges," said Walker, a technology author and broadcaster.
"The biggest problem about Segway is that it doesn't really reinvent any particular category other than your two feet. So does it replace a bicycle, or what exactly is it and what does it do?"
However, Walker said it's a clever piece of technology with its self-balancing ability.
"But the problem is, it just doesn't have a market. So in the end you're sort of left with 'What's the point?"'
Bombardier acknowledged the Segway was "poorly executed" as a product and he said the legislative changes needed to get it in use weren't well thought out.
