Ever wonder who came up with the fiat of number on a telephone ? Ever wonder why it is n’t the same as those on a calculator , or a keyboard , ascending from down to highest ? After all , adding machines and mechanical computer were around for at least a few hundred year before the invention of the pushbutton phone .
turn out , the standard descending 3x3 ( plus 1 ) control grid we ’ve acquire up on might have been a lot unlike . Check out the 18 pick below presented to various focus groups . They fare from a composition issued in 1960 by The American Telephone and Telegraph Company , just before pushbutton phones went mainstream .
In summation to primal agreement , other class of intent features were study , like military force - displacement characteristics and button - top size / aim .
After the jump , you ’ll see the first figure , which shows all the arrangements the various focus radical were presented with ( n.b . Group I - A " “ the same as the calculator ) . The 2d shows the four finalists , plus the original rotary arrangement . ( I - A apparently did n’t make the cut . )
The focus groups were try out on keying times ( error rate were calculated ) and involve which they preferred aesthetically . It ’s especially coolheaded to note how the success , the now - standard 3x3 plus 1 , had a much larger error rate than the two vertical columns . Yet the two erect newspaper column agreement was the least preferred overall . It seems the most popular , and the one the focus groups had the least trouble put to work , was the one that mimic what they were already used to : the standard rotary dial . I guess like Ma Bell , the designers commence the ill communication " ¦ and went with the new one that scored best across the boards , hoping future multiplication would draw a blank the dials of the yesteryear .
They were right .
