Among nerds of a certain age, there is no better calculator for any amount of money than an “oblong” Hewlett-Packard from the 10C series. This excellent family of robust, compact, workhorse calculators debuted in 1981, and included:

• The 10C, a basic scientific model; and
• The 12C, a business/financial calculator — and the only one still in production (it’s also one of the three named calculators allowed in the CFA exam); and
• The 15C, an advanced scientific model; and
• The jewel in the crown for nerds like Chief Heathen, the 16C Programmer’s model.

These expensive calculators (a 12C is still $70) were objects of nerd gadget lust more than a decade and a half before the iPod or PalmPilot. Even better, their strict adherence to RPN meant being able to use one marked you as a member of a certain tribe — a tribe made very sad by HP’s eventual decision to stop making all but the 12C.

It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, that several enterprising folks have gotten 10C-series emulators into the iPhone App Store. At the astounding (for the App Store) price of $20 you can have the “SCI-15C,” “PRG-16C” or “FIN-12C,” complete with simulated LCD screens and brushed metal bezels (from Thomas Fors LLC; no real web site). Yes, we’ve already got a 16C on the HeathenPhone.

(A competitor, R.L.M., has another 12C on offer for $10, but a quick survey of comments suggests that Thomas Fors’ versions are superior — and even at $20, it’s still far less than one of these actually cost back in the day. I do sort of wonder what a $9.99 emulator on a phone will do to HP’s ability to sell $70 12Cs, though.)

(Incidentally, it’s the Fors verisons we commented on previously, on 5/15/08.)