IBOT – Stair Climbing Wheelchair Is No More
the ibot wheelchair
Independence Technology – a Johnson and Johnson company, has announced that it will be withdrawing it’s revolutionary powered mobility device from the market with immediate effect. They will however be honoring service agreements until 2013.
The chair while revolutionary in advancing a customers mobility came with a high price tag at about 22,000 US Dollars with the reimbursement agencies valuing the product at about 6,000 US Dollars – thus putting it out of reach of most people.
We had our doubts way back in 2006 – Johnson and Johnson IBOT Medicare And The Power Mobility Industry.
On an allied subject – two years ago we wrote about the Topchair which is a similar concept providing enhanced mobility for climbing stairs – this one made in France.
Consumers have a much better chance of acquiring products like these in some European countries where reimbursement rules are much more favorable as to the right to quality of mobility.
We have even noticed companies in China starting to advertise – “stair climbing wheelchairs” – but until somebody gets the functionality / cost ratio correct these products are going to go the way of the Concorde – unfortunately.
6 comments
[...] Update: May 2009 – IBOT – Stairclimbing wheelchair withdrawn from market. [...]
Breaks my heart to once again see superior and needed technology CRUSHED because of financial greed and the inability to see that the value of the object far outreaches its current cost. The genius of ibot is evident from the first moment and the value should be easy to see. When will we learn to balance truly genius innovation with reasonable and sustainable profit, instead we destroy great ideas because they do not produce enough profit. Someday we will al have to tell our grandchildren that we could have saved the world and made it a better place, but there was no money in it, so we chose not too.
usually the government should be bound to build safety devices in front of important buildings in order to make easier the life of the people in wheelchairs . Since the politicians dont care, its good to see there are such modern and comfortable wheelchairs , pity that they are too expensive and cant everyone who need them to afford..
Principal-Principal-Principal-Principal
سلام
من ایرانی هستم
من زبان انگلیسی بلد نیستم
من یک معلولم
ای کاش از این ویلچرها ایران بود
اگه هم بیاد انقدر گرانه که ما توان خرید آن را نداریم
اگه ممکنه قیمتش رو برام ایمیل کنید و نحوه خرید
متشکر
I need to know the actual price of the second wheelchair which the woman is sitting on it with a red shirt thank
i m not able to walk so i want to get it but i don’t know the prise of this send me a e-mail of it’s prise in indian ruppes and how can i get it? thankyou.
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