During 1959 the first compact telephone with a light up dial
was introduced by Bell System. It was designed for convenient use in the
bedroom and was primarily targeted at women; because of this the Princess Phone
came in a range of different colours: pink, red, yellow, moss green, ivory,
light blue etc. The phone was primarily advertised with the slogan ‘’it’s
little, it’s lovely, it lights.’
The telephone was designed by Henry Dreyfuss Associates
along with Bell’s Lab engineers and Indianapolis Model Shop. Before hitting the
mass market a prototype of the Princess Phone was underwent a product trial and
was given to a focus group to try out. The initial response to the phone was
negative many people said the phone was ‘too light’ and ‘moved around a lot.’ Bell
Labs however disregarded the feedback and gave Western Electric permission to
manufacture the phone. Throughout its lifetime the Princess Phone received more
negative feedback and because of this underwent some technological changes:
lead weights were added to make them heavier, so as to not move around so much;
a single gong ringer replaced the external ringer.After these changes the phone's popularity increased; some even said that the First Lady at the time (Jackie Kennedy) bought one herself. Despite the problems it had, the Princess Phone still stands as one of today's best loved phone.
No comments:
Post a Comment