Does this 1970's Braun ET44 calculator look familiar? Well for you iPhone users it should, it seems to bear more than a striking resemblance to your calculator application, no? [Wired]
Is that a Braun ET44 in Your iPhone?
8:00 PM on Fri Jul 20 2007
By Ben Longo
19,874 views
35 comments








Comments
Yeah, but the Braun probably has 3g and custom ringtones...
Typical Apple.
Yeah but the Iphone does not have a percent sign. I found this out the first day I got it. That kind of pissed me off.
OMG, I didn't know the iPhone was a calculator too! That just pushed it into must buy territory for me.
What ARE the odds?
There's probably only half a million different styles of calculators out there.
They must have stolen it!
Who's worse? Wired for writing it or Giz for re-posting it.
And who says things from the 70s aren't coming back?
lmao @ codiferous! the best comment I've seen in a few weeks on Giz!
is that really all the functions the iphone calculator has? kinda weak considering it's no better than my low-end samsung... not that a calculator is part of its core function, still you'd think they could do better than that with all that power
Uh, no.
60s and 70s-- awesome design. Go, Apple. Rekindle the past in the present. Typical Apple, always bringing beauty to the fore!
i'm by no means an apple fan boy, but how is this newsworthy? so people are now expecting apple to change the way we do math too? what, they're not allowed to use the multiplication sign any more? numbers aren't allowed be organized in a sequential (3x3)+1 grid?
Now they'll never sell any more of those calculators. Everyone's just going to buy iPhones instead.
Won't someone please think of the children!
uhhhh they don't actually look that much alike. The calc app on the iPhone just looks like a regular calculator..
Shit for somthing that expinsive, show off something that i can't get on todays device or 30 years ago.
........love my zune:)
It's hard not to be inspired by Braun and the Bauhaus movement when you're looking to do minimalist like Apple. This is clearly a rip-off since Ives cannot possibly have ignored the existence of this famous calculator design. But does it matter? If it cannot easily be perfected, then it should be copied *for the benefit of the consumers*.
In fact, more than a rip-off, I'd say it's an homage.
@quadrophenia: agreed!
The weird thing is that on every other calculator I've used, including Apple's calculator program AND widget, the plus and minus buttons have been swapped. Why did they break tradition and put the "-" below the "+"?
The braun is also a beard trimmer
Good god, you're right!! Digits? Check. Operators? Check. Round buttons? Check. Uncanny.
@ricksbrain: 60s and 70s-- awesome design.
Know where can I buy an Avocado skin?
silly
that's the third guy here that has complained about no "percent" sign on the iphone.
can someone tell me if the percent sign has some magical power other than moving the decimal over 2 places? cuz, frankly, i think percent key would be a total waste of space.
I nominate Justin for early commenting-account termination.
Also, where are all those "everybody copies Apple" fanboys now? I agree that maybe, just maybe, this is either a slip up (coded as it is now but not revised, some heads are going to roll for this) or there is no "patent" on that design so it's "fair use" since it does not come with the % button.
In any case i'm still laughing.
A percent sign is a powerful tool when adding taxes in a single step...or is everyone just a non-profit, tax-exempt organization around here?
And the trash can on the OS X dock looks EXACTLY like the one under my desk.
OMG!!!
And don't even get me started on the virtual manila file folders...
Yeah, the ET44 is somewhat of an iconic piece of industrial design. It looks like the ET44 is actually in the London Design Museum. Considering that Apple hires or contracts knowledgeable designers, I would imagine someone knowingly paid homage to the ET44.
Hmm, first Xerox Star, then Braun ET44. When will it end? Tell me when!
Cute, I have one of those Braun calculators sitting on my desk in front of me. I've had it and used it from new. Designed by the amazing Dieter Rams It has remained a classic all that time.
Or could it be that they stole this Apple co-branded Braun calculator... which would be stealing from themselves!
[www.theapplecollection.com]
Good lord people, try Google before you post something.
dirtloves FTW!!!
I remember these Braun calculators and now I know why the iPhone's calculator seemed so familiar - thanks :)
Speaking of these Braun calculators... Talk about timeless design! They don't look or feel late 70's - they could be released now and still be modern!
WHO EVER CARES RE POST ME! IT HAS A CALCULATOR THAT IS ENOUGH WE ALL KNOW APPLE COPY'S OLD THINGS!
Apple made a calculator?
@impliedsurprise: Apple made a phone?
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