iPhone, 1954 versions

I read the news today, oh boy. The latest iPhone is out.

I'll be glad to not get an iPhone. I still have my old cellphone, so old I taped the back on when it broke after being dropped. It's so old there's no fancy stuff, no camera, no anything but a telephone.

President Obama and his Blackberry notwithstanding, how did we ever get along without cellphones? We didn't think about it, was how! I remember moving into my house in 1975 and having a party line, with the explanation from the phone company: "We don't have enough lines in your area." So I put up with a rude woman who was apparently on the phone 23 1/2 hours a day. Every time I'd pick up the phone to make a call she'd be there, yakking away. I called the phone company, demanded a private line and had it the same day. So much for not enough lines. I don't think anyone born after the 1970s would even know what a party line was and they'd be amazed to hear how they worked...or in my case, didn't work.


I found these two ads from 1954, where the seeds of private phones were born. I'll bet the Space Phones, for $1.00, probably didn't work the way they promised in the ad. I have no idea how they worked, since the ad says "no electric wires, no batteries." The ad says they vibrate, so maybe they have dual uses besides being a walkie-talkie.

The Zimphone seems a bit more what we're used to from the pre-cell days. It has a traditional looking handset, it has wire connecting two phones. It has only 50' of wire included, which isn't much, but with additional wire you can talk up to a mile!

Don't you wish you could send the coupons and get both of these phones? In 2009 $$$ they are a true bargain if they do what they say they do. No cellphone bills, that's for sure.