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Segway CTO joins Apple as VP of product design

updated 09:30 am EDT, Mon July 7, 2008

Segway CTO joins Apple

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.

 
Previous Comments

Lucky b******

07/07, 10:09am reply

Not bad work if you can find it.

msuper69

Mac Elite

Joined: Jan 2000

+1

Comment buried. Show

Pray!

07/07, 10:27am (1 reply) reply

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.

thebiggfrogg

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2007

-14

iCar?

07/07, 10:33am reply

iCar coming next july.

Herod

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2007

+2

interesting...

07/07, 10:36am reply

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.

Guest

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

+1

Segway dorky?

07/07, 11:03am reply

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.

dynsight

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2005

+5

Funny...

07/07, 11:48am reply

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."

paulc

Junior Member

Joined: Aug 2000

-1

We Americans aren't. . .

07/07, 12:04pm reply

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!

thebiggfrogg

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2007

-2

Though it would. . .

07/07, 12:07pm reply

make a hilarious chase scene in the next big budget action flick!

thebiggfrogg

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2007

+2

Just what Apple needs...

07/07, 02:23pm (1 reply) reply

...a guy with an eye for creating products that few want, fewer can afford, and no one has any actual place to use.

ethical_paul

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2002

0

Well

07/07, 06:50pm reply

Keep in mind Jon Ive's claim to fame pre-Apple was toilets: so maybe a combo Segway/s******/iWipe?

dimmer

Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Feb 2006

+1

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