What the iPhone Has Replaced from a 1991 Radio Shack Ad
Steve Cichon of Trending Buffalo uncovered a Radio Shack newspaper ad from 1991, and realized that almost everything in the ad had been replaced by his iPhone, including a desktop computer, CB radio, tape recorder, CD player, answering machine, calculator, alarm clock, and camcorder. It would have cost $3,054.82 to buy all the gadgets that the iPhone has replaced — about $5,100 in 2012 dollars — which puts the cost of the iPhone and apps into perspective. The only two items in the ad that haven’t been yet replaced by the iPhone? A radar detector and a beefy speaker.
Yes! It's interesting that the overall price appears to be about the same. About $5000 modern dollars only covers a few years service for many users and much of that hardware became obsolete in a few years too. Mine certainly did.
My radar detector has been replaced by my iPhone! I use Waze to see where fellow users have reported nearby speed traps. It's not 100%, but radar detectors never were, either.