Roger auctions the iPhone Drew gifted him

[SuperMatch93]

When Drew took over hosting, he bought everyone on the staff iPhones shortly after the first one came out. Most of the staff were thrilled, except...

He [Drew Carey] came to our office at CBS on July 24, 2007 to be briefed by me on the workings of the show. He brought iPhones as a gift to all of us on the staff (11 of us in total). Everyone was quite ecstatic ... it had been released just 3 weeks earlier and it was a big thing in the news. I did not open mine, because I did not like cell phones and had no intention of using it. I put it away in a drawer and did not think about it until years later ... then I put it in our safe!"

He recently auctioned it at Bonham's, and got quite a nice amount for it. https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29359/lot/76/apple-iphone-1-sealed-in-original-box-with-fantastic-provenance-apple-iphone-1-8gb-smartphone-2007-sealed-in-original-box-since-its-production-144-x-88-x-68-mm-5-58-x-3-12-x-2-1116-inches/

[CBSpromoman]

Definitely a good amount! Impressive.

[mrbrown2195]

Good for Roger. Original sealed iPhones do still fetch quite a bit of money, and this one has a cool story behind it. Maybe he can buy some margaritas with it. 

[alansh42]

He just wanted a phone with an eggcrate display. 

[William]

I remember an interview with Drew from around the time he became host where he was expressing mild frustration over Roger and Bob being hard to get ahold of because neither of them had a cell phone or email.

I'm assuming this is still the case with Roger because he frequently goes on cruises and posts on Facebook that they will be "off the grid completely" during that time. I guess this means he generally has all communication devices (landline, computer) at his house.

[CBSpromoman]

I remember an interview with Drew from around the time he became host where he was expressing mild frustration over Roger and Bob being hard to get ahold of because neither of them had a cell phone or email.

I'm assuming this is still the case with Roger because he frequently goes on cruises and posts on Facebook that they will be "off the grid completely" during that time. I guess this means he generally has all communication devices (landline, computer) at his house.

I wouldn't assume that Roger doesn't have a cell phone. It may well be that he just sets more definite boundaries than most of us do when it comes to giving out his cell phone number.

Not everyone cares to be reachable at every single moment of their lives.

[PimpinJC]

I had to do a double-take.  When first reading this, I thought “surely the first iPhone came out before 2007.”  But I looked it up and it did launch June 29, 2007.  (I guess I found it interesting that Bob never hosted an episode with an iPhone as a prize.)

[gamesurf]

I'm assuming this is still the case with Roger because he frequently goes on cruises and posts on Facebook that they will be "off the grid completely" during that time. I guess this means he generally has all communication devices (landline, computer) at his house.

Even if you bring a cell phone and laptop onboard a cruise ship, you're still many miles away from the nearest cell tower and can't access the internet without racking up some major roaming fees or buying one of the cruise's expensive wifi plans.

[ElectricPeterTork]

I had to do a double-take.  When first reading this, I thought “surely the first iPhone came out before 2007.”  But I looked it up and it did launch June 29, 2007.  (I guess I found it interesting that Bob never hosted an episode with an iPhone as a prize.)

Maybe not. Were there any in the opening IUFB for the 2015 April Fools episode?

[mechamind]

The 2015 April Fools show started with an LG smartphone.

[ElectricPeterTork]

Ah. Right ballpark, wrong team.

Thank you.

[therealcu2010]

I had to do a double-take.  When first reading this, I thought “surely the first iPhone came out before 2007.”  But I looked it up and it did launch June 29, 2007.  (I guess I found it interesting that Bob never hosted an episode with an iPhone as a prize.)

Bob retired before the release of the iPhone.