The 1964 PicturePhone anticipated Skype and Facetime on the iPhone.
The Future was Then. The 1967 “Picturephone” by AT&T.
There was never a better time ahead in the past than the future as seen from the Jet Age, that slice of powder blue optimism running from about 1957 to 1965.
Kids would fly to school with jetpacks and moving sidewalks promised to glide shoppers past a galaxy of storefronts. Nothing popped the imagination brighter, however, than the promise of someday soon seeing Gramps talk without having to visit him. That was the hope offered by AT&T’s marvelous “Picture Phone.”
The general public had a chance to try it out at Bell Electric Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, queuing up just to sit at a cubbyhole desk in front of the tiny TV on a raised Jetson-style pedestal
Categories: Advertising & Marketing, Tech, The Past Future
Tags: 1964 World's Fair, Android, Apple, Facetime, iPhone, iPhone4, PicturePhone
Related Articles
-
Betty Draper, Brach’s Easter Candy & Sugar Daddy
-
“A Nation without Cranberry Sauce!” The Red Relish Panic of Thanksgiving 1959
-
The Dad Who Inspired Father’s Day & Maybe the Pop-Up Card: From the Archives
-
When Three Presidents Ran Against Each Other But Whiskey Won the Election: The 1912 Campaign Songs of Teddy Roosevelt, Taft & Wilson
-
Yes He Did: Originality Returns with 2008 Obama Campaign Music
-
The Twinges and Twang of George W. Bush’s 2000 & 2004 Campaign Music
This article starts out by talking about “Picture Phone”, from the 1960’s. Both James and I remember seeing this futuristic device demonstrated at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. It was so exciting and revolutionary!
Well, I thought about Picture Phone tonight, while we were skyping…..
hugs, ed
http://laphamsquarterly.tumblr.com/post/21654829660/named-after-george-bernard-shaws-ingenue-in
came across this article and though of you instantly about the post above… maybe youre interested, dear carl.
I’m on a terrible tight deadline but will perhaps read that link for my daily procrastination break…thanks