Cell Phones put Pay Phones to Rest
by Android Tapp
Dec 4, 2008 7:59 AM –
Remember the land before time when Pay Phones were abundant? Well maybe that was exaggerated, but if it isn’t obvious, the number of pay phones have significantly dropped due solely to technology (and sanitary concerns). Cell phones now a days perform like mini-computers; packed with high speed Internet, E-mail and Apps. Reportedly smart phones are on the rise as well, nearly tripled in the U.S. in the last year.
The Digits
In the last 10 years in the U.S., Cell Phone usage has gone up from 34 million to 203 million. In contrast, Pay Phones went from 2+ million in 2000 to just under 870,000 in 2008; down 58%. Cell phones have become the grave-digger of many devices, not just the pay phone. Wired.com wrote 2 interesting articles; Five Gadgets That Were Killed by the Cellphone and Seven (More) Gadgets Killed by the Cellphone. Looking at the numbers from a operational expense perspective, it takes about $75-$100 monthly just to break even.
(Inspired by Fox News Chicago)