[Soundbox]

Just clearing through my cupboards and look what I found at the back https://www.dropbox.com/s/3g5tl7a6lq..._0126.JPG?dl=0

I forgot all about this sort of stuff in phone shops. Desk chargers, vibrating batteries, leather belt pouches, suede cases, replacement aerials and other paraphernalia. I also dug out some new mobile phones like the first Nokia Orange and Motorola Breeze. It seems like a whole different world compared to the smart phones. It all came from a closing independent phone shop. Just more junk now but that's kind of sad seeing how it was all amazing stuff back then. Just thought I would share.

[swb1964]

You might get some takers on Ebay, especially for the unopened stuff. The accesories sold by the million, but unopened stuff is quite rare

[jonmorris]

I sold a lot of stuff like that, especially fixed antennas to replace retractable ones. I remember the people who bought the wrong wavelength ones from other people, and wondering why they had worse signal!

And nearly everyone who bought a phone got a hands-free headset, car charger, leather case and maybe a holder.

One of my suppliers not far from the Carphone Warehouse HQ in north west London had a room packed with people who may or may not have been legally entitled to work here stitching leather together to make cases almost 24/7. It was like an Asian sweatshop, and explained why the cases cost something like 25p each. Retail prices on the high street £10-25.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

I sold a lot of stuff like that, especially fixed antennas to replace retractable ones. I remember the people who bought the wrong wavelength ones from other people, and wondering why they had worse signal!

And nearly everyone who bought a phone got a hands-free headset, car charger, leather case and maybe a holder.

One of my suppliers not far from the Carphone Warehouse HQ in north west London had a room packed with people who may or may not have been legally entitled to work here stitching leather together to make cases almost 24/7. It was like an Asian sweatshop, and explained why the cases cost something like 25p each. Retail prices on the high street £10-25.

The good old days

£19.99 for a leather case or car charger, and people used to pay it without complaint (or given free with £25+ contracts).

We used to get them by the box from Pama (who still seem to be around).

[jonmorris]

They were good old days in terms of profit margins. Damn my parents for not having me sooner, as if I'd been just a few years older in the late 80s, I could have enjoyed the obscene profit margins enjoyed by the likes of Dunstone, Hardy, Caudwell and loads of other names I now forget (many of whom are now living abroad having scarpered quick smart after various VAT scams and other dodginess!).

Not that I was doing badly in the early 90s, but it wasn't quite as good.

And by the 2000s the margins were getting pretty &*&@. £10-20 a box? Yeah, thanks a lot. To think you could have made £200-300 a connection ten years previous, and even more 15 years previous.

Ah, the memories! Now if only I'd saved a lot of the money I made instead of enjoying nice holidays and cars.

[Katharine_Range]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

I sold a lot of stuff like that, especially fixed antennas to replace retractable ones. I remember the people who bought the wrong wavelength ones from other people, and wondering why they had worse signal!

And nearly everyone who bought a phone got a hands-free headset, car charger, leather case and maybe a holder.

One of my suppliers not far from the Carphone Warehouse HQ in north west London had a room packed with people who may or may not have been legally entitled to work here stitching leather together to make cases almost 24/7. It was like an Asian sweatshop, and explained why the cases cost something like 25p each. Retail prices on the high street £10-25.

I'd have thought that the supplier would be cruel by still setting a high street price but most of the price would be profit.

[DevonBloke]

Right, now I gonna have to dig out my Nokia Orange and get a pic on here.
I was going to try and get it working. Anyone know how to unlock it?
Did they even lock early ones (1996)?

[moox]

Don't forget data cables, where every phone had its own proprietary connector and software and the genuine article from the manufacturer wasn't particularly cheap or widely available. I remember bodging something together out of a Nokia data cable and a Psion cable to give me GPRS on my PDA (Psion never embraced bluetooth and infrared was not always useful)

I'm glad that's one thing we've moved away from.

Unfortunately I can't find my old phones, especially my 6310i which everyone seemed to own and still seems to command high prices on eBay (do people still use those car kits or something)