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After importing the first two Segway "Human Transporters" (as they were known then) in October 2003, November and December were busy months appearing at shows like Big Boys Toys and other events promoting our first business - known simply as Segway Hire. Bookings for parties and activities were flooding in, and we signed a summer-long co-promotion with V - the popular energy drink. V helped us produce our first promo flyer to give away at dozens of concerts in parks, free outdoor film festivals, family fun days, university O-Week festivities and dance parties throughout the upper North Island.
Flyer from 2003 inspired by our co-promotion with 'V' energy drink for our first business called Segway Hire
Philip Bendall recalls his very first sale of a Segway Personal Transporter:
"One day in December 2003 I got an enthusiastic phone call that went something like this -
'Hi, my name is Rodney Green from Napier and I don't know if you remember me but I met you at Big Boys Toys and I want to buy a Segway HT. In fact, I want to buy two, I want them by Christmas because I've broken my leg and my doctor says I shouldn't walk on it so I want something to get around on during my holiday to the South Island with my wife. Oh and I want you to bring one of the Segway HTs you've got down to Soul Bar & Bistro on Sunday morning for breakfast to show my friend Peter Leach who you probably know as (radio and TV personality) The Mad Butcher.'"At first, I thought it was one of my mates putting on a voice and having me on, or a radio station ringing up and doing a prank call. But sure enough, the deposit went into my account and so I pulled out all stops to get a pair of HT i167's down to New Zealand as quickly as I could. To do it, I got my friend Jack Cook from Vanouver to buy two in Seattle then fly down to Auckland with them as his checked luggage. Back in those days airlines didn't seem to mind if you checked in with baggage weighing way over the limit. And so that's how I sold my first two Segway Personal Transporters." "I remember thinking at the time 'Wow, these things are so easy to sell that they sell in pairs!' though of course it wasn't ever going to work out quite like that. But during 2004 sales built up steadily, and I'd sold about fifteen more by the end of that year. Sales doubled each year after that for the next couple of years. By the end of 2006 there were well over 100 of the first-generation machines in use around the country. After that, the Human Transporter name was retired, and with the launch of the next generation of LeanSteer machines they became Segway Personal Transporters."