iPhone gives new life to old HP calculators

June 26, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

hp-12c-iphone-appHewlett Packard has just released iPhone versions of two of its classic calculators from the 1980s — the 12C financial calculator and the 15C scientific calculator — with a third, the 12C Platinum, planned for August.

These apps are pretty much identical replicas, according to MacWorld, with all the old buttons and features available when you view them in the iPhone’s wider landscape view. (When you change to the vertical portrait view, buttons for some of the more advanced features disappear.) If a user taps on the HP logo, they even see the list of useful formulas that was once stuck to the back of the device.

At first, it sounded like these calculators might be pure nostalgia pieces, but the pricing says otherwise — $14.99 for the 12C and $29.99 for the 15C. That’s a lot cheaper than the physical devices, which usually cost more than $100, but it’s pretty expensive if you’re not planning to make real use of those calculators. Looks like they may not be as obsolete as I thought — especially since the 12C is actually still being manufactured.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • MLR
    12C are many investment bankers' calculator of choice. Says a lot.
  • About the calculator or the bankers?
  • Anthony, have you ever used a 12c? I only ask because I read from your post and comment a strong sense of tone that the calculators are obsolete and for lack of a better word "tired", when in reality, they are far from a disgrace.

    That being said, thanks for writing this article. 14.99 to not have to carry or look for one of my 12c's around with me everywhere is dirt cheap in my eyes.
  • No I haven't. My initial impression was that the calculators were obsolete, given their age, but I tried to make it clear in the final paragraph that I appear to have been mistaken.
  • Edward Schwabecher
    Anthony, that is amazing, but being a little more senior I grew up with RPN devices and carry a 12C with me all the time. I will buy this app and leave the 12C home after I am comfortable with it. The fact that I can also take 15C with me will be astonishing. This far my iPhone has replaced:
    Alarm clock
    Palm pilot
    Old CDMA phone
    Travel camera
    Home computer when on work travel

    Edward Schwabecher
  • MLR
    Bankers.

    I used to pull out my TI 89 in meetings and senior guys would laugh. Little do they know I've got Phoenix and Drug Wars on that baby.

    Thanks for hard work at Venture Beat - always enjoy the posts / link to them on my blog a fair amount.

    http://allmydealsarelive.com