I think VulcanWerks brings some excellent points above.
The thread title and my memories of being issued a BlackBerry for work made me think of a (now-funny) incident…
Circa 2001, one of my dad’s colleagues (they were doctors at a prestigious hospital) was issued some sort of phone that had internet capability. I think it predates any “smart phone” and was a fancy older type phone with some sort of browser on it.
As a hobby, I was strongly into buying auction cars and reselling them after a few repairs. I figured a device that would help me do research on cars and parts on the spot in the auction yard would be worth the investment.
I went to Best Buy, which had the best selection of consumer electronics at the time in my area. I was laughed at because I mentioned the concept of the average person someday having the ability to purchase a mobile device that could access the internet.
Similar to when I showed up at a ski resort in 1987 with a snowboard I had saved and saved to purchase. Nobody else I knew had one and it literally drew a crowd as I walked through the parking lot of the ski resort with my friend and his mom.
I was told “the same criminal punks who ride skateboards in the summer are the ones who buy snowboards! You and your mischievous friends are not and will never be welcome here! We will never allow snowboarding on this mountain!”
Roughly ten years later half of their business was snowboarding!
The thread title and my memories of being issued a BlackBerry for work made me think of a (now-funny) incident…
Circa 2001, one of my dad’s colleagues (they were doctors at a prestigious hospital) was issued some sort of phone that had internet capability. I think it predates any “smart phone” and was a fancy older type phone with some sort of browser on it.
As a hobby, I was strongly into buying auction cars and reselling them after a few repairs. I figured a device that would help me do research on cars and parts on the spot in the auction yard would be worth the investment.
I went to Best Buy, which had the best selection of consumer electronics at the time in my area. I was laughed at because I mentioned the concept of the average person someday having the ability to purchase a mobile device that could access the internet.
Similar to when I showed up at a ski resort in 1987 with a snowboard I had saved and saved to purchase. Nobody else I knew had one and it literally drew a crowd as I walked through the parking lot of the ski resort with my friend and his mom.
I was told “the same criminal punks who ride skateboards in the summer are the ones who buy snowboards! You and your mischievous friends are not and will never be welcome here! We will never allow snowboarding on this mountain!”
Roughly ten years later half of their business was snowboarding!
