It took one simple Instagram featuring Kendall Jenner on a 2 wheel self-balancing scooter hoverboard known as the PhunkeeDuck for these hoverboards to go viral. If you haven’t noticed you have probably seen these scooters before they became a phenomenon. Every time a famous person uploads a picture or a video of these popular scooters, commenters immediately want to find out 2 things:
•What are these scooters called?
•Where can they buy it from?
What Is In The Name?
Jamie Foxx appeared on the Tonight Show and called the scooter a PhunkeeDuck. This really annoyed Curtis Hedges, the owner of the IO Hawk product as the scooter was not a PhunkeeDuck but rather an IO Hawk. The IO Hawk and PhunkeeDuck are the 2 main players in this specific scooter market, however there are a host of others around. Some of these brands include the Overoad, iEZWay, Airwheel, Esway, Freego, Airboard, Monorover, Future Foot, Scoot, Cyboard and Oxboard and many more.
The original and real story about these scooters does not begin with the PhunkeeDuck or the IO Hawk, it actually started off where just about every single “modern” technology does, and this place is known as China. The actual origin of this scooter is a bit hard to trace as the manufacturing industry in China moves very fast. However, a few facts indicate towards a company known as Chic Robotics that also goes by the name of Hangzhou Chic Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. The Chic’s logo is a horizontal line placed on top an oval shape happens to appear as an “IO” when it has been rotated in a 90 degree angle. In addition, Chic’s name comes up a lot when individuals talk about selling the product.
This company was first founded in the year 2013, and came about in a connection to China’s Zhejiang University. This company was designed to create stuff but also played an important in IP protection in order to recuperate copyrights and patents as well as care for what this company calls what is known as “sustainable innovation.” Chic robotics owns a number of patents that are related to this type of scooter and tried very hard to protect these patents.
The first scooter they produced was known as the Smart S1 and was first advertised in funny commercial in the month of August 2014. Later in the month of fall Chic took their S1 to what was is known as the biggest trade show in China, the Canton Fair. This extravaganza draws over 180,000 buyers worldwide. In the country of China the rewards related to been the first to produce a product just means you will be the first company that gets copied.
The supply of these scooters from Chic disappeared incredibly fast and soon thousands of people were interested in owning one. Very soon, people were spotted riding these scooters all around this massive convention center. The massive amounts of suppliers and buyers took to the Smart S1 like gold and so did many factories all over China. Very soon sites such as Alibaba were littered with several manufacturers that offered the exact same product, many of which used the very same promotional videos and images.
The manufacturing industry in China is very centralized, that anything that is new on the market spreads like wild fire from the supply chains. One manufacturer will create a product and then another manufacturer will reverse-engineer and make a product that is almost identical to the original. Then other companies will make the product faster and cheaper due to the lack of R and D costs. In many cases this constant product-telephone ends up with an inferior product.
That is why a scooter from the manufactures Scoot cost around $695 while an almost splitting image of this device can be purchased on Alibaba for around $200. However, the company IO Hawk based in Los Angeles sells there scooters for an astounding $1,799.99 and they are still unable to keep abreast with the demand.
These 2 wheel self-balancing scooter hoverboard work on the very same technology when compared to a Segway, but they have no handlebars. This is why the 2 wheel self-balancing board is considered to be convenient and compact and many people now use these nifty devices for commuting back and forth to work.
Where Can You Buy It?
Meritline.com for sure.
We just have these came and now we have them in stock. We have several size and color selections. Check out out hoverboard self balancing scooter section.