[NJARC] Why the Internet didn't kill Radio Shack
Harry Klancer
klancer2 at comcast.net
Thu Apr 2 10:49:48 EDT 2015
Well, it just shows that not enough of you come to the museum.
We have one of those, and a bagphone, and flip phones and some of the
later cellphones too.
And by the way Dave, here's a factoid for you. Consensus is that there are
over 6 billion (with a b) cellphones -- and each one is a radio -- in
the world.
And did anybody say that radios (not radio) were a thing of the past.
Harry K
On 04/01/2015 10:14 PM, Joe Connor via NJARC wrote:
> Just remember
> Reply = Poster
> Reply All = Everyone
>
> _________________________________________________________
>
>
> Ah, those big phones. The other night, I was watching the movie Wall
> Street, which was released in 1987. The Michael Douglas character is
> walking on the beach talking on his cell phone. The damned thing was
> the size of a World War II walkie-talkie. He looked like he was about
> to call in artillery fire or something.
>
> Joe Connor
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 10:09 PM, David Sica
> <dave at sicaproductions.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Jim,
>
> Collecting cellphones? Nah, one's got to draw the line
> somewhere. But then again... I did have to keep my "bag phone"
> from 1985 or so. I used to drag it out occasionally to tease my
> kids when they started badgering me for newer, smaller phones.
>
> -- Dave
>
> Sica Productions
> 732-382-0618
> 973-873-6347
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 5:57 PM, <antqradio at sbcglobal.net
> <mailto:antqradio at sbcglobal.net>> wrote:
>
> Just remember
> Reply = Poster
> Reply All = Everyone
>
> _________________________________________________________
>
> I can speak only for myself but I imagine that some on this
> list have had similar experiences with Radio Shack.
>
> First off, I have bought several scanners and shortwave
> receivers from them over the years and I have been happy with
> all of them. They were worth what I paid and reliability was
> better then average, in my experience. I guess up to about the
> year 2000 or so, buying components from RS was common for me.
> But after they concentrated more and more on cellphones and
> the like and the component shelves dried up, I stopped going.
> By then I had discovered Mouser and have used them and eBay
> for all of my component needs ever since.
>
> I don't really think that RS management was to blame, it is
> just the price of progress. When you think about it, modern
> electronic products are now no longer repairable. Pick and
> place surface mounted parts, not much bigger then ground
> pepper flakes, have made the cost to replace the end item so
> low that repair a thing of the past. Not to mention that
> reliability is, for the most part so high that one gets tired
> of the old cell phone or what have you long before it fails.
>
> When I left the cell phone industry, the cost to manufacture a
> phone was around $300. The most costly component was the six
> volt battery. The production life cycle of the cell phone was
> 18 months. The first three or so months, the phone sold for
> $300, the next three or so months it was at $100 or so. In
> the last months of production, the phone was free for signing
> a new contract since all of the R&D and production cost had
> been recovered and a nice profit was made by all. Ah, the
> beauty of mass production!
>
> 15 years of so later, I imagine that the cost to make a cell
> phone is much lower. My Blackberry Z10, which I think is
> wonderful and intuitive to use, was free to me for a two year
> contract extension. It has an 8MB camera so I no longer have
> a need for the Nicon Coolpix 2000 camera and the GPS receiver
> in the car. The Z10 has more speed and memory then either of
> my first two or three PC's I paid a king's ransom for. It just
> blows my mind! And to think our favorite hobby is the
> collection and restoration of ancient vacuum tube radios and
> electronics; it is just plain crazy.
>
> Is anyone collecting cellphones? I have a few early AMPS and
> DAMPS Ericsson and other makers of cell phones, some NIB, some
> engineering samples and some with only the circuit board, free
> for postage. If InfoAge is interested, I'll throw in a
> cellphone schematic!
> Jim
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Alex Magoun <a.b.magoun at ieee.org
> <mailto:a.b.magoun at ieee.org>>
> *To:* njarc at mailman.qth.net <mailto:njarc at mailman.qth.net>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 1, 2015 1:18 PM
> *Subject:* [NJARC] Why the Internet didn't kill Radio Shack
>
> Per this Fortune reporter
> (http://fortune.com/2015/04/01/why-the-internet-did-not-kill-radio-shack/?xid=gn_editorspicks&google_editors_picks=true),
> though I'm curious what the profit margin is/was on selling
> components to restorers/DIYers/hackers/makers compared to cell
> phones. Besides, it was selling, or trying to sell, consumer
> electronics at least 40 years ago.
>
> Alex
> ~~~
> Alexander B. Magoun, Ph.D., Outreach Historian
> IEEE History Center
> at Stevens Institute of Technology
> Samuel C. Williams Library 3rd Floor
> Hoboken, NJ 07030-5991
> USA
>
> +1 732-981-3414
> a.b.magoun at ieee.org <mailto:a.b.magoun at ieee.org>
> www.ethw.org <http://www.ethw.org/>
> @IEEEHistory
> www.ieee.org/history_center <http://www.ieee.org/history_center>
>
> IEEE - Advancing Technology for Humanity
>
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