The hidden monopoly behind your TI graphing calculator
The Verge's podcast Version History examines how Texas Instruments built and has kept a near-total grip on the school graphing calculator market since the early 2000s. Host David Pierce is joined by Nilay Patel and Victoria Song for the discussion.
The latest episode of The Verge's podcast Version History dives into the history of Texas Instruments (TI) graphing calculators and how the company has managed to dominate the school calculator market for decades without losing its grip.
Host David Pierce is joined by The Verge's Nilay Patel and Victoria Song to trace how the same TI calculator has shown up on students' back-to-school shopping lists since the early 2000s, even though the company's dominance in the category stretches back much further.
A season devoted to school tech
This is the second episode of the show's fifth season, which is themed around back-to-school technology. The previous episode looked back at The Oregon Trail, the computer-lab game generations of students grew up playing.
Over the coming weeks, the series plans to cover other school-era technology, including the One Laptop Per Child initiative, Chromebooks, the LeapPad educational device, and the classic overhead projector.
How to listen
New episodes are available on major podcast platforms as soon as they're released. Verge subscribers can listen to Version History and the outlet's other podcasts without ads by enabling that option in their account settings.
The episode's show notes also point listeners toward additional resources for readers who want to dig deeper into the history of TI graphing calculators.
