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.

[kennedy]

I bought my first HP12c in 1982 when I was in college. It is on my desk and I still use it daily. I have a half dozen others scattered around my office and my house. In an era when most electronics are obsolete in 6 months it never ceases to amaze me how the HP12c has never been replaced with anything better.

[tallhappy]

Yes.

Reverse Polish Notation -- the greatest.

[Always Right]

I was in engineering school, we had to have the HP 11c, which included imaginary number calculations.

[Always Right]

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I was in engineering school, we had to have the HP 11c, which included imaginary number calculations.

I assume that, by imaginary numbers, you are referring to the square roots of negative numbers, and not financial projections made by democrats. :)

[Az Joe]

My Texas Instruments BA-II Executive Business Analyst financial calculator (Circa 1985) is still going strong.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I cant use anything but my hp48g. Old and battered, works awesome!

[avg_freeper]

Their high end science-engineering calculators, on the other hand, get slower, more cumbersome to use, and bulkier with every release. RPN is really the only reason I bought an HP calculator.

[68skylark]

Great post -- my HP 12c has taken unbelievable abuse and it just keeps working better each year!

[Cuttnhorse]

Reverse Polish Notation -- the greatest.

LOL! The young engineers I work with have fits trying to use my HP...which is sitting on my desk this minute.

What I find amazing is I bought mine in 1982, (the store where I bought it is long gone) and I think I've only changed batteries 3 or 4-times and I use the darn thing every day. Mine has been all over the world.

[avg_freeper]

I have an hp48g. I had a 28sx but delta airlines smashed it to pieces on a flight from Wichita to Atlanta.

Don't you find the hp48 dog slow? It seems really slow compared to pda devices like the palm pilot. I checked out newer hp models and they seem just as slow.

[mpreston]

RPM is why HP is still selling calculators. Wish I could find a good Windows/Linux version of a HP calculator

[LibWhacker]

RPN ruined me; I can't use a regular calculator. I can add two numbers, but give me a long expression to evaluate, and I'm lost, lol!

[jimt]

My TI-66 programmable was purchased in 1983 and has had the batteries replaced once. Every key still works, the display is perfect, and no Reverse Polish Notation !

[TheBigB]

My calculator is so old, it has an internal abacus.

Bada-bump. Thank you, try the fish. I'm here all week.

[Corporate Law]

I have the same model, same year (1985), and strangely the same battery. 19 years and still functions great.

[BenR2]

I assume that, by imaginary numbers, you are referring to the square roots of negative numbers, and not financial projections made by democrats. :)

///////////
Thank you! Super post. LOL.

[Cboldt]

Wish they'd bring back the 15C. Great calculators, that series (10C, 11C, 15C, 12C, 16C).

[Trajan88]

In route to receiving my degree at Texas A&M, part of the core curriculum was a finace class (think it was FINC 304)... the prof. was one of those old school, bow-tie wearing fuddy-duddies that thought his dung didn't stink (sorta like John Houseman of "The Paper Chase" fame).

Anyway, his lectures were a waste of time because they were based on keystrokes using the H-P 12B (I believe that was the model - B for business). I was too cash-straped to have a H-P, I had already bought a Sharp.

I rarely went to class - it wasn't worth sitting through a lecture of H-P keystrokes that I would then have to convert. For the most part, I used tables and the basic functions of the Sharp calculator to get me through.

After the final exam we were asked to evaluate the prof. - my only statement was along the line of "how much of a $ kickback did H-P &/or the college bookstores provide you?"

Trajan88; TAMU Class of '88

[Grut]

... 1981, the same year IBM Corp. introduced the personal computer.

I know it's a quibble, but IBM didn't introduce 'the' personal computer, only its version of the personal computer. A little credit to IMSAI, Altair, Apple and even Radio Shack, please.