A new book from Harvard Business School, Code Name Ginger, describes the development of the Segway scooter, and the various people who participated. Here is an excerpt from the book describing a meeting between vanture capitalist John Doerr, Apple's Steve Jobs, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, and the Ginger project planners.

"Good morning to everyone," said Tim, smiling at the front of the table. "Before we start, we'd like to ask you to hold your questions until after each presentation."

"Yeah, right!" snorted Bezos, followed by that honking laugh.

"Otherwise we might as well not be here," said Jobs.

"How long is your presentation?" asked Doerr. "Each pitch is about ten minutes."

"I can't do that," said Jobs. "I'm not built that way. So if you want me to leave, I will, but I can't just sit here."

When the Segway was unveiled, I have to say I was underwhelmed. I still am. Apparently I'm not the only one.

Fourteen months after being marketed to businesses and five months after sales to individuals commenced, the Transporter remains more of a novelty than the revolutionary transportation device trumpeted by tech industry luminaries and others. You can usually spot one being demonstrated at an amusement park, or your postal carrier may be testing one, but city streets and factory floors are practically devoid of the gizmos. The device has a top speed of 12.5 miles per hour, up to three to four times the average walking pace.

Doerr, Jobs, and Bezos are all smart guys. Yet they are all also all billionaires, able to buy whatever consumer goods they want without a second thought; so even with all the critical thinking going on at their meeting, it didn't occur to any of them to ask the most fundamental question:

Why would Americans, with an average household income in the $35,000 range, spend $5000 to buy a high-tech skateboard?

I live about six miles from work, and could probably scrape together $5K if I wanted to. I am presumably squarely in their target demographic. Yet I have no desire whatsoever to buy one of these devices.

At 12 miles per hour, it would take me half an hour to get to work, even under ideal conditions. With no roof and no air conditioning, this means I spend half an hour either baking in the sun, and show up at work drenched in sweat (this is Houston, after all), or getting soaked to the bone in the rain.

There's no cargo space, so I'm limited to what I can tuck under an arm, or stuff into a backpack. Stopping for groceries on the way home is not an option.

I would have to navigate around Houston traffic -- there isn't continuous sidewalk from home to work, and even if there were, I'd still have to cross at intersections -- without benefit of bumpers, seatbelts, or airbags.

All this for a mere five thousand smackers. What a bargain.

What the hell were they thinking?