Regular readers of TNW will know we have a regular column called CHEAP. There we share interesting deals on tech products across the Internet. Most of the stuff unearthed has some actual practical value: like phones and tablets.
This isn’t one of those.
In researching today’s post, I stumbled across the Sharp TM-20 TelMail E-Mail Organizer , which has dropped in price from $118.31 to $50. This device was introduced over twenty years ago, and at the time, allowed people to access email without the need for a computer.
This pocketable device came with an acoustic coupler modem. If you wanted to send and receive new messages, you went to a phone booth and dialed a toll-free number, placing the receiver close to the device. Because of the limits of the device’s storage, plus the fact that dial-up internet is inherently slow, messages were limited to 4,000 characters long.
Despite that, it was almost futuristic. It came with a full QWERTY keyboard. While there were no downloadable apps, it came bundled with several things we now carry in our pockets: an alarm clock, calendar, address book, and memo pad software.
Reading some of the Amazon reviews, which date to 2000, feels a bit like peering back through time to a long-forgotten era. Here’s my favorite:
Here’s another:
Of course, there are more recent reviews which are less glowing. One posted in August, 2019, has the title: “Device cannot use email.”
Of course, there’s a reason why the Sharp TM-20 doesn’t work anymore. Firstly: payphones are no longer a thing. You can thank Nokia for that.
Also, the company that operated the email servers, PocketMail, discontinued the service over a decade ago. The circumstances behind this are especially interesting.
According to public documents, PocketMail rebranded to Avadle Resources Limited , and pivoted to — wait for it — uranium mining .
I look forward to the day when WeWork decides trendy office space isn’t its bag and starts developing cluster munitions. But until then, I can reconcile myself with owning a bargain bit of tech history for just $50 .
Sure, it’ll just be a useless brick. But maybe it’ll be worth something one day ?
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