> Segway worked exactly as advertised

No.

Their PR and marketing was AWFUL to build the level of hype they did around the product they released.

If you're releasing a scooter for mall cops and tourists you don't go on Good Morning America to advertise it as a world-changing technology.

They advertised the release of a world-changing technology and released nothing like that.

I remember the marketing around it. I was so incredibly excited too. They really marketed it as having discovered a room temperature superconductor.

Takes me back to a time when you were still able to shroud things with mystique and excitement. The Matrix, Blair Witch Project, and the PlayStation 2 with the emotion engine were all larger than life. Cloverfield was the last of that kind.

"Entire cities will be redesigned around this new product, which I can't tell you about. But you should try to guess, it'll be fun."

True, the Segway was not a scam at all. It was just amazingly overhyped and that's what killed it as a consumer product.