The payphone reinvented

old payphoneAre you old enough to remember payphones? When I was a tween in the 80s they were all over (and I had one of these on my shoes to make sure I always had a quarter with me). But somehow I doubt my kids have any idea what a payphone even looks like. shoe pocket

You might think payphones are a dying technology, but don’t count them out yet.

Endadget reports that New York City, which has 11,000 payphones, is looking to reinvent and modernize this communication tool by October 2014. To get ideas, the city called for public input and received over 120 entries. Of these, 6 were selected as finalists. Now, the public can vote for their favorite on Facebook until March 14.

The city plans to take the best and most popular ideas and use them to develop guidelines for the future payphone. Check out some of these entries:

payphone1

payphone2

payphone3

To see all of the finalists, click here. What do you think? Can you imagine seeing any of these at the mall or on your street corner?

Missy works on the Corporate Communications team and reports stories to TDS employees and customers. This is right up her alley because she’s an extrovert and also a big fan of research (really, she’ll look up just about anything that strikes her interest). Missy is a native of Madison, Wis. with an undergraduate in Anthropology and a master’s degree in Life Sciences Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interest in the Internet as a mass media shaped her work towards a PhD in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s also worked as an editorial assistant, copywriter, and production artist. In her off hours, Missy is a crafter, Pinterest addict, reader, wife, and mom of two kids.

One Comment

  1. John Richardson
    on March 28, 2013 at 1:59 pm •Reply

    I don’t get it. Is this a study of housing design? is this a cellphone hot spot or a nickel dime quarter payphone?

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