Scooters and bikes such as Lime and Onzo are like those earliest phones – ripe for improvement as entrepreneurs add features and improve hardware.

“I don’t advocate for scooters, I advocate for right-sized mobility,” he says in an interview.

Over recent years, Dediu has grappled with the definition of micro-mobility – a word he may have coined – and now defines it as vehicles weighing less than 500 kilograms, powered by electricity, owned by someone other than the driver, used on-demand, often for a small fee, and given frequent software upgrades.

Software is the key, he says.

Mobile phones, tablet computers and other hardware are often made obsolete by upgrades to their operating systems, he notes.
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