macnn
07/07/2008, 9:30am, EDT
Monday, July 7th
Segway CTO joins Apple as VP of product design
Segway's chief technology officer has left the company to join Apple, accounts say. J. Douglas Field is said to be responsible for the whole of the engineering team behind Segway's two-wheeled "personal transporter" vehicles, which were originally invented by Dean Kamen. At Apple Field will become a vice president of product design, serving alongside the likes of key designer Jonathan Ive.
The two companies have significant history, as Apple CEO Steve Jobs was one of the first people outside Segway to see "Ginger," the project that would eventually become the first vehicles from the company. Field is meanwhile claimed to be a fan of Apple design, a factor which may have prompted his changing positions. His own experience includes product development for companies such as Ford, Johnson & Johnson and Kamen's DEKA Research & Development.
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Lucky bastard
Not bad work if you can find it.
Pray!
My God! The Segway is the dorkiest invention on the planet and a waste. What need does it serve? How many immobilized people can stand? I hope he doesn't bring such genius to Apple. Doesn't Woz use one of these things. Maybe he should change his name to Slothz.
iCar?
iCar coming next july.
interesting...
This is an interesting hire. It almost certainly indicates a specific product concept that Apple is serious about developing, historically, they don't make blind hires hoping for a "good mix". It may or may not have to do with the technology of the Segway, but something in Mr. Field's resume is very relevant to a direction Apple wants to go.
Segway dorky?
Sometimes I wonder why we have degraded into name calling (dorky!) without fully understanding. We have devolved into simplifying complex ideas into sound bytes.
Segway is a great product in search of a broader market.
I have worked in very large facilities where this would be useful (think of a supervisor with employees throughout the plant). With gas prices so high, I have been seeing more of these.
They are great for the tours in urban areas, and it provides patrolmen the ability to manage greater areas "on foot"
I have ridden one, and they are fabulous to ride, very easy to control. They are NOT meant for those that are immobile, but going 12 miles an hour is roughly four times the average walking speed.
How quickly we judge without fully thinking what we say.
Funny...
In urban areas, Segways would be the absolutely best way to get around. I wish I could afford one (and therein lies the rub)!
BTW, there's some major irony here. Jubs is hiring the guy responsible for a piece of hardware that he called "inelegant" and said it "sucked."
We Americans aren't. . .
fat enough.
How about this revolutionary concept: walking! I admit there might be a few occasions where this would be useful, but I think it is emblematic of our collective laziness. As a limited market, fine, but as a mass market item: buy some shoes!
Though it would. . .
make a hilarious chase scene in the next big budget action flick!
Just what Apple needs...
...a guy with an eye for creating products that few want, fewer can afford, and no one has any actual place to use.
Well
Keep in mind Jon Ive's claim to fame pre-Apple was toilets: so maybe a combo Segway/Shitter/iWipe?