Woz Wants YOU to Play Segway Polo
We tuned in for Woz's grand Segway polo match today. Aside from the simultaneously eerie and warm feeling we got from Steve Wozniak's shirt bearing a striking resemblance to our old high school's band booster wear, we weren't able enjoy much of the very short broadcast of the match.
Context & Ripple Effects
Four days after Engadget flagged the live webcast of Woz's Segway polo match, the game aired — and per Gizmodo, the stream was so short that most viewers who tuned in saw very little of it. The match itself barely registers as sport; what matters is who was playing.
The polo appearance caps a busy 2007 for Steve Wozniak outside Apple: he rode a Segway into a San Francisco studio as part of a prank on Stephen Colbert in July, qualified for the Prius Racing Team in August, and handed out shirts to fans queuing for the iPhone in June. Each episode got its own news cycle, which says as much about the blogs covering him as about Woz.
First-order effects
- Segway gets a celebrity showcase from one of the few people whose name reliably draws gadget-blog attention to the product, though the truncated broadcast undercut the promotional value of the December 13 webcast announcement.
- Wozniak extends his 2007 run of hobbyist public appearances — Segways, Prius racing, iPhone-line handshakes — each generating coverage without any involvement from Apple.
Second-order effects
- Gizmodo and Engadget treating Woz's pastimes as assignable stories gives him media leverage independent of his Apple history, effectively subsidizing whatever he chooses to do next.
- For Segway, association with a beloved co-founder is a low-cost visibility play in a market where the device remains a curiosity rather than a mass product — expect more stunt-based marketing of this kind.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward the founder-as-public-personality: retired technologists converting name recognition into standalone media presence through sports and stunts, a template that does not require their original companies' participation.
- If gadget blogs keep assigning these stories, the supply of 'founder does something quirky' coverage becomes self-sustaining, shaping how the public distinguishes a company's brand from its founders' personal brands.
The trend: Retired founders are turning name recognition into standalone media personas through stunt-driven appearances, with gadget blogs as the willing amplifier.