In anticipation of the Thanksgiving holiday this week, I hope everyone is as excited as I am to come together with family or friends (or both) and rejoice in the true significance of the holiday:
Shopping.
That’s right, folks. As soon as that midnight bell rings, it’s time to bundle up and head out into the wasteland of retail carnage that is Black Friday shopping. All that food you’ve just enjoyed was only to fuel your consumption journey.
This year’s “gotta have it” item is the hoverboard.
The name is slightly deceiving, since the device is more like a sideways skateboard or a Segway with no handlebars.
Justin Bieber’s Instagram account is plastered with videos of him on his hoverboard, and the device has been all over late night talk shows, toy fairs, and music videos.
CNN named the IO Hawk hoverboard “one of the coolest pieces of technology” at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
It’s the perfect recipe for unprecedented consumer demand.
But before you race up and down the aisles, elbowing your competitors and reaching for this year’s coolest gadgets, we would like to point out one inconvenient fact…
The original and more well-known models from companies like IO Hawk and PhunkeeDuck are not only incredibly expensive (upwards of $1,700) but also very difficult to find these days.
At Angel Publishing, we decided that a hoverboard (by any manufacturer) was essential.
Not only would this “intelligent human transportation device” add to workplace efficiency, but it is also crucial that we are up to date with the newest technology trends.
We’ll do anything for research.
So for the sake of that research, we began the hunt for our hoverboard.
Looking back, we shouldn’t have been so surprised, but a “genuine” hoverboard was almost impossible to find.
We might not have the same clout as Justin Bieber, but we usually have enough connections to get our hands on devices like this one.
Alas, we were forced to purchase our little knock-off board. For our purposes, it would do.
The buzz upon its arrival reminded me of Christmas morning. To be honest, not many of us could even tell the difference between our board and the “originals.”
We knew that the affordability of the hoverboard came with certain… compromises.
The price tag probably meant that it was made with cheaper materials. The battery probably wouldn’t stay charged as long, and the wheels might not be for off-roading.
After a few weeks, we began noticing signs of wear and tear — a few dents and scratches, but nothing that warranted real concern.
However, when the device started smoking and smelling like burning plastic, we knew something was wrong.
Within 15 minutes, our entire office was evacuated as the hoverboard went up in flames.
We are sad to announce that just last week, our hoverboard kicked the bucket.
It now rests with all the other hundreds of knock-offs in hoverboard heaven.
Thankfully, Angel Publishing is comprised of incredibly mature adults who know how to properly handle potentially dangerous technology.
I would hate to think about the possible consequences of an unsuspecting minor hovering around as their knock-off device slowly burns from within.
For our readers, this is a clear danger. It’s one thing to risk wasting a few hundred dollars on a knock-off toy. It’s a completely different thing to risk your own safety just to take part in this year’s fun tech craze.
Retailers feel the same way.
From their perspective, it’s been a challenge to determine which brand of hoverboard to offer their customers.
Considering the countless low-priced knock-offs, retailers that are too quick to partner with the wrong provider could be opening the door to a massive lawsuit liability.
The legal concerns grow more complicated when issues of copyright infringement enter the equation.
The bottom line is that no one actually knows who owns the rights to the two-wheeled vehicle.
Mark Cuban claims that he and inventor Shane Chen are the owners. Their main legal target is IO Hawk, which has allegedly partnered with Wal-Mart to stock shelves this holiday season.
However, while Cuban fires shots at IO Hawk (and now Wal-Mart as well), he is simultaneously defending his own claims against lawsuits from Segway and its parent company, NineBot.
Amid a swarm of patent infringement lawsuits surrounding the hoverboards, retail consultant Carol Spieckerman states, “It’s an obvious opportunity, but there’s also a lot of liability for this particular craze. No retailer wants to be the one who had the hoverboard incident, whether that’s a safety issue or a high-profile legal case.”
However, the legal drama appears to only be adding fuel to the fire.
Demand for hoverboards (with any logo) continues to grow. The real question is whether or not you are willing to risk getting burned by the device — legally or literally.
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