ANTIC Interview 455 - Bill and David Lappen, Buy-Phone

Bill and David Lappen, Buy-Phone

 

It's a dangerous game in the computer history field to call anything the "first." But Buy-Phone is a very strong contender call itself the first online yellow pages. Years before before Yahoo!, before Craigslist, Buy-Phone was a text-based dial-up service — available at 300 and 1200 bits per second — that provided business listings, movie times, and personal ads, all for free to callers. The service launched in late 1982 and was limited to the West Los Angeles area. Buy-Phone was the brainchild of brothers Bill and David Lappen.

 

Here's what the August 1984 issue of IEEE Computer wrote: 

 

"Buy-Phone's "electronic yellow pages" service for Los Angeles is answering over 3000 consumer requests per day, on any thing trom movies to restaurants to auto repair - and the best part? It's all free.

The philosophy was to provide sponsored information paid for by the advertiser, not the consumer.

The computer organizes over 10,000 listings to respond exactly to the caller's request. According to the company, the system had to be easy for computer novices to operate, yet powerful enough to be of value. Four proficiency levels are used, each introducing additional features. Beginning users see only six different categories of listings (restaurants arranged by price or nationality, movie schedules, plays...). As users advance, they see an expanded list and are shown how to formulate a search. Retrieved listings are arranged by their distance from the user, with the closest shown first. Expert users are able to specify the time and day they want to buy an item and get information only about stores that are open then.

Buy-Phone is now testing expansion to determine how difficult it will be to create similar systems in other cities.

To discover Buy-Phone's service call [phone] (300 baud), [phone] (1200 baud). Access assistance is available at [phone]."

 

I interviewed Buy-Phone founders Bill and David Lappen on March 14, 2025.

 

Video version of this interview

 

Buy-Phone advertisements, clippings, and ephemera

 

Buy-Phone Computer Consulting web site

 

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