23 years and counting: H-P's calculator, a relic by today's standards, is still selling strong

Austin American Statesman ^ | January 19, 2004 | Bob Keefe

[kennedy]

In an industry where a year or two can be an eternity in a product's life span, one unsung product has stood the test of time.

While other companies were unveiling their latest futuristic gadgets at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Hewlett-Packard Co. was showing off a relic: the little HP 12c calculator, which the company says is the oldest consumer electronic device still in production. It's still going strong.

H-P first started selling the financial calculator in 1981, the same year IBM Corp. introduced the personal computer. Today, with very few changes, the 12c is still H-P's best-selling calculator. With its mortgage-amortization and bond-calculation functions, it is as essential to many real estate salespeople as a smile and firm handshake.

When introduced, the calculator sold for about $150 -- more than $350 when adjusted for inflation. Today, it retails for about $70.

Dennis Harms was the project manager in H-P's research and development department who was responsible for rolling out the HP 12c.

One reason the device is still popular, he said, is that H-P got national testing boards to approve it and convinced schools and real estate groups to endorse it.

But the biggest reason the calculator has been so successful, Harms said, is its simplicity and reliability.

"You could put it in your shirt pocket, the batteries lasted forever, and it's all you ever needed," said Harms, who still works for H-P, now in its printer division. He said he still has a prototype version of the calculator and uses it frequently.

Fred Valdez, manager of H-P's calculator division, said the company regularly gets letters from customers with their HP 12c war stories.

A zookeeper wrote to tell the company how his calculator was eaten by a hippo but still worked -- after a little cleaning -- when it came out the animal's other end a few days later, Valdez said. Another customer wrote to say her 12c outlasted several marriages.

With testimonials such as these, there's no reason to quit producing the device, even in this age of all-in-one gadgets that can do everything the 12c does and more, Valdez said.

"We intend to keep it in the family," he said.

[Cboldt]

Wasn't the first HP introduced in about 1974 or '75? Seems I recall a mining engineer student with a HP 30 (?) that had the whole engineering and science departments in an up-roar. I recall them being forbiden during exams.

HP and TI came out with $150 calculators in late '73 or so. I was a freshman engineering student in '73. Calculators were forbidden in exams, slide rule course was required. Today, laptop computer is a requirement for entry into the college of engineering.

[kennedy]

I was in high school at the time. I remember the first electronic calculator I saw. It displayed only 6 digits with red LEDs. I also remember being amazed at predictions that you would someday be able to buy one for under $50.

My grandfather was born in 1880, before the invention of the airplane, automobile or radio. He lived long enough to see man walk on the moon. I try to remember that to keep things in perspective whenever I start feeling like a fossil.

[Orangedog]

A little credit to IMSAI, Altair, Apple and even Radio Shack, please.

I'm reading my copy of "Fire In the Valley" for the second time right now. I was just a little kid when the home computer industry was in it's infancy and wish I would have had a chance to have worked in it during that time. Wouldn't mind getting into something like that now, but it seems like everything electronic is done by the big companies overseas now.

[Uncle Hal]

I remember when the 12C first came out in the 80's. I was in the real estate business and everybody had one. I believe most people just did simple calculations that you could probably have done with a little $5 calculator. But if you had a 12C people thought you could probably do any calculation and it made you so look cool.

[Cboldt]

My grandfather was born in 1880, before the invention of the airplane, automobile or radio. He lived long enough to see man walk on the moon. I try to remember that to keep things in perspective whenever I start feeling like a fossil.

I have a set of toolmakers encyclopedia from my grandfather. They were published before the centerless grinder was invented. In that encyclodia are directions for evaluating the quality of threadforms with great precision, e.g., the "drunkeness" of threads to within 10's of millionths of an inch.

Fossil, my butt. Of course technology changes, but you are apt to retain the ability to understand the underlying technology, indefinitely.

[Cuttnhorse]

Of course technology changes, but you are apt to retain the ability to understand the underlying technology, indefinitely.

Well said!

[Rifleman]

CLisp comes close, as it has prefix notation. And a touch typist can use it as desk calculator really easily. Of course, you type function names rather than strike function keys.

Its a free download of a full implimentation of Common Lisp. It is also probably the most efficient and powerful programming language (Lisp in general, I mean) in existance. I am currently trying to wrap my 50 year old mind around it and the functional programming style.

[razorback-bert]

I have had some many HPs, I forget all the models.

Lost some, used one as fish bait and forgot to hook it, a couple other people needed more than I did.

[Robert A Cook PE]

First I was aware of was the HP-35 (I saw one of the first ones in San Antonio in 1974 by my physics teacher in HS.) A little over 300.00 then.... What, that would be about 3000.00 now? Heck, a Cadillac was only 8,000.00 and a big house was 30,000.00.)

HP-45 came out in my freshman year at college. It was 450.00 then.

I used a slide rule until sophomore year, then got a 400.00 HP-45. prices had already some down a bit.

[Incorrigible]

Ahhhh, I bought my HP-15c my freshman year in Engineering in 1983.  Still have and use it!

I was always amused with the business and liberal arts majors who would come over to me at the library and ask if they could borrow my calculator.  "Sure!" I always said and counted the seconds before they brought it back and either just handed it back to me and said "Thanks" or asked where the "=" sign was!

Later, when getting my MBA, I found the HP-12c to be quite useful.  I use that more now than my 15c but I've probably only gone through 3 sets of batteries on each in nearly 20 years!

Engineer cheer:

Rah! Rah! Engineers!
Three cheers!  Free beers!!
Rah! Rah! Engineers!

[RightWhale]

HP calculators are still in use among engineers. One factor might be that some special apps are programmed and can be saved on strips or chips and still work for engineering uses such as land surveying.

[Tymesup]

There were a couple of the old HP's glued to tabletops at the Institute in the mid-70's. I wish I had gotten the HP-41 when I had the chance. My 12C is sweet. One of the rubber feet came off, which is not a good sign. My begin indicator never had the "g", so it says "be in".

I like when people ask where is the equal sign. The same people that use a desktop calculator and can add without an equal sign.

[William Tell]

BigBobber said: "This thing, like all HP calculators, is horribly overpriced. "

I have an HP-25 which was overpriced. It stopped working about a year after I got it.

My HP-15C was built in late 1982 and rests just a foot away from me as I write this. That's two decades of service. I need to apply a little glue because the imprinted panel is coming loose.

I also expect my HP-41C to be ready at such time as I need it. When I showed a classmate in 1983 how the 41C could solve an implicit equation he went out that day and bought one. There was a lot of innovating going on back then.

[Cuttnhorse]

Thanks for the history lesson. Couldn't quite remember that it was an HP 35.

Kids would be amazed if they walked into their chemistry classroom today and there was a big slide rule hanging over the blackboard. I used to be pretty good with one...in a time long ago.

Best to you from Chile.