Welcome to the first issue of the Segway™ Newsletter. During one of your previous visits to www.segway.com, you indicated an interest in hearing about the latest developments here at Segway by registering on our Web site. If for any reason you would like to stop receiving future issues of this newsletter, please email us using the unsubscribe link below.

As you might imagine, the past few months have been incredibly exciting for us. Given the amount of pre-announce anticipation and speculation in the traditional and electronic media, we had expected Segway™ Human Transporter's (PT) announcement to be something that generated a great deal of attention. We were pleasantly surprised by how much attention it received.

We have been overwhelmed not only by the amount of news coverage, but also by the number of people who have participated in debates about Segway™ PT's potential impact. We are excited by the range of debate and by the passion people bring to the discussions.

We have received a wide range of reactions. Some people have questioned whether Segway PT represents a true long-term urban transportation solution. However people who experienced the PT are nearly unanimous in their view that riding Segway PT is like nothing they have ever experienced. Jim Shea of the Hartford Courant said (in a reference to the project's code name during development), "I recently danced with Ginger… and she's every bit as talented as her famous namesake. She followed my lead intuitively." Amy Harmon of The New York Times put it more succinctly. When asked in an interview what is was like to ride Segway PT, she responded, "It's really cool." You could almost hear her chuckle as she recalled the experience.

We thank you for your continued interest in Segway PT and for having the vision to see its potential. Now that the initial excitement has subsided, we are ready to take a deep breath and start putting that potential to work. As new issues come to light and additional news items about Segway PT appear, we will keep you informed.

If we needed a barometer to help us measure interest in Segway PT, we didn't have to look beyond our Web site. In less than seven weeks following the launch, over 4.7 million of you visited www.segway.com. Perhaps even more significant is that once you came you spent a lot of time getting to know us—watching videos, learning about the technology, downloading pictures, and absorbing all the information on the site.

Internet users aren't the only ones interested in Segway PT. The video news release that we created to accompany the launch was broadcast by the National Satellite Service to over 123 million viewers worldwide, making it one of the most watched product launches ever.

Internet discussion groups and Web site visitors are important ways to gauge success, but the real test comes when we put Segway PT to work. We are happy to report that Segway PT's initial appearances in the real world have been very successful. As part of its trial integration into the Boston, Massachusetts Police Department, Segway PT was ridden by a handful of local law enforcement officials in the city's First Night New Year's Eve parade. The beta-test by a group of Tampa, Florida postal workers has also gone very well. One mail carrier, interviewed on National Public Radio's All Things Considered program, reported that Segway PT "works great." His only lament was that he would have to go back to walking his three-mile-a-day route when the test was over. Look for news about more tests in upcoming issues.

After several months of construction, our Bedford, NH manufacturing facility is ready to go. To help celebrate the milestone, Dean Kamen will assemble the very first production Segway PT. To meet demand from pioneering organizations like the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Park Service, General Electric, Axicon, Michelin, and Delphi Automotive, the plant will focus on production of commercial machines through at least the third quarter of 2002. For the many of you who have expressed interest in being one of the first to own the consumer version of Segway PT, we're expecting to begin offering consumer machines sometime in the fourth quarter. Thanks for your patience and your interest—we will keep you up to date as we get closer to that time.

Stay tuned for our next newsletter.