HP Forum Archive 14

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12C's sold Message #1 Posted by writergirl on 20 Dec 2003, 12:28 p.m. Hi. I am trying to figure out a conservative estimate of how many HP 12C calculators have sold since it fist came out in 1981. Does anyone have any idea? Also, any feedback on the new 12C Platinum would be welcome. I am working on an article about the history of the 12C. Thanks in advance for the help!

Re: 12C's sold Message #2 Posted by Namir Shammas on 20 Dec 2003, 3:02 p.m., in response to message #1 by writergirl Hello, Wow ... HP has sold tons of the HP12C. I think it's their all-time best seller. Does HP share any info about such a nice success story?? Namir

Re: 12C's sold Message #3 Posted by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz on 20 Dec 2003, 9:11 p.m., in response to message #2 by Namir Shammas I was amused a few months ago when one of the people at the new HP calcs group asked me how many HP-12Cs I thought had been sold. Does the new group not have records? Or were they looking to see what impressions people have? Has anyone else here been asked that question? HP, of course, do not release total numbers sold. That's commercially sensitive information! So maybe the previous calculator groups did not pass the information on to the new one. Except that this should be known by the marketing people. Gene (Wright), do you know? Whatever... I told them that my opinion was at least 4 million, but could easily be as high as 10. After, all, 10 million would be only 10 thousand a week for 20 years, and the HP-12C has been on sale for longer than that. On the 12P, I naturally compared it with the 12C. Keys were much more noisy - like the other new models, the case acts as an echo chamber when a key is pressed, and this can be distracting for people working nearby in a quiet environment. Algebraic mode needs parentheses. Lots more has been written elsewhere. If you are seriously working on a 12C history book, please email me directly and I'd be happy to discuss more.

Re: 12C's sold Message #4 Posted by GG on 21 Dec 2003, 12:12 p.m., in response to message #3 by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz >>> HP, of course, do not release total numbers sold. That's commercially sensitive information! <<< Since the serial number indicates the date of production and unit produced, it should be pretty easy to come up with a reasonable estimate.

Re: 12C's sold Message #5 Posted by Wlodek Mie-Jedrzejowicz on 21 Dec 2003, 11:42 p.m., in response to message #4 by GG GG wrote: >> Since the serial number indicates the date of production and unit produced, it should be pretty easy to come up with a reasonable estimate. Unfortunately, this does not help much on its own. Say you have a calculator with a week number and a serial number. That only tells you that at least this many were made in that week. Were more made? If you have a large number of 12Cs, you can get an estimate by guessing that the serial number of each unit is on average half-way through the total number made in each relevant week. But you still don't know how many, if any, were made in other weeks. What's worse, HP sometimes began calculator serial numbers in each week on a number other than 1. Later Topcat models began with a serial number of 90000 each week! If we could get a random sample of about 5,000 serial numbers for each location where 12Cs were and are made (USA, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia, China), we could then use those numbers to estimate the number of weeks per year that 12Cs were made, and how may were made in each place in each week of manufacture. Any offers? :-)

Re: 12C's sold Message #6 Posted by Raymond Del Tondo on 22 Dec 2003, 5:51 a.m., in response to message #5 by Wlodek Mie-Jedrzejowicz Hello Wlodek, here are my 12C serial no entries: 2232A03473, 3112B53306, 3610M03581 (I sold this one), MY83303893 Regards, Raymond

Re: 12C's sold Message #7 Posted by Thomas Radtke on 21 Dec 2003, 4:13 a.m., in response to message #1 by writergirl Since HPQ is listed on NYSE, this kind of info is probably available to shareholders. Did you try to contact HP about their sales figures? Good luck, Thomas

Re: 12C's sold Message #8 Posted by Dave Shaffer on 21 Dec 2003, 12:07 p.m., in response to message #7 by Thomas Radtke Just because they are publicly owned doesn't mean they'll reveal sales details. Years ago (1972 or 1973), a bunch of us grad students at Caltech had lunch with HP vice-president Barney Oliver (one of the prime movers behind the HP 35 and an early proponent of SETI). The then-new HP 35 was a prime topic of the discussion for us techno-geeks, of course. I asked him if he knew how many HP had sold, and would he tell us. The answers were "yes" and "no."

Re: 12C's sold Message #9 Posted by writergirl on 22 Dec 2003, 11:48 a.m., in response to message #1 by writergirl HP doesn't provide sales numbers for any model. NPD tracks overall calculator sales, but doesn't break this down by model. The only information HP provides is that the 12C has sold "millions." HP sold 4 million calculators altogether in the first 10 months of this year, so I am sure that over 21 years they sold roughly 8-10 million 12Cs. They sold 750,000 of them the first year. Thanks for your comments.

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