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AT&T predicted the future of technology in 1993
By Lindsay CutlerJanuary 5th, 2011, 6:09 pmComments (23)
Far be it from me to criticize AT&T, one of the world's largest cell-service carriers, but come on. Reception sucks. Dropped calls aside, you have to give to AT&T for this crazy-prescient commercial from 1993 in which they predict the existence of electronic ticket kiosks, video conferencing, e-books, tablets, and even buying stuff online.
It looks like the only technology they didn't anticipate is flatscreen TVs. BOOM! Take your convex screens and shove that in your mind garbage, AT&T! But really, AT&T, how did you know?
Commentarium (23 Comments)
but apparently not cellphones...
Actually, it seems they didn't anticipate cell phones. Notice, in their world, people actually use phone booths.
ATT used to own Bell Labs, which was amazingly ahead of it's time in terms of the technology they created. Wouldn't be too much of a stretch for the ad division to sit down some researchers and ask them what tech they envisioned would be possible in the next 20 years.
Crap. I remember these commercials (specifically, the one about "Jazz").
How would they do these now?
The idea of sending a fax from the beach from an iPad-like device is kind of like sending Morse code from a cellphone. Well, maybe...
@akeem, you're right. All they had to do was look at what was in late stage development, ask a focus group what they would actually use, and fund those products. Then they put them in a commercial as a clever bit of marketing.
@just mike- I've had to scan documents and send them. If your work at all involves contracts you end up doing this sort of thing a lot.
Technology is always way ahead of what the public sees. Innovations are released to the public bit by bit (no pun intended) so that already obsolete tech can turn a profit. Could be that most of what AT&T was "forecasting" was already developed in '94...
Is the woman who is looking at her baby on screen Jenna Elfman?
I remember this ad, and maybe it was just my age at the time, but I don't remember gawping in wonderment; rather, I thought, "Well, yeah, looks like next logical steps..."
I also remember this commercial and for some reason the toll booth (i.e. E-Z Pass) part seemed coolest to me at the time (maybe because I had a car but didn't do much faxing documents or tucking in babies). But now it seems quaint that anyone thought you'd be swiping a credit card on your dash. Also, the "...without slowing down" part of that must still be in development.
@Akeem Yep we seem to forget Bell Labs/its researchers brought about Unix, the transistor, the laser. C++ and countless other things we take for granted now a days
Nice, AT&T always knew what was going on!
www.anon-tools.it.tc
Some of those predictions were pretty incredible. But I suppose 1993 isn't that long ago.. Where there any more that are way off?
@Sa, "without slowing down" is already here, I've been on highways with this system and they tell you not to slow down. The current problem is that a lot of places with EZ Pass still use the old booths as their infrastructure and also need to provide lanes for cash customers.
How would you swipe your credit card while driving? And when?
i remeber those!!! is that Tom Selleck doing the voice over?
Why yes, Tom Selleck it is!
idiots. cell phones already existed in 1993
@Sa yeah Sa, Very Accurate is correct. In Illinois we have open road tolls, where it looks just like the rest of the highway, 4 lanes wide with the sensors up above. you can go through at 90+ and it still recognizes your EZ pass.
http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=133,1496411&_dad=port...
I was a visitor to Bell Labs in Holmdel, NJ in 1990. I saw the test track set up to test the EZpass system. Such a cool notion. @Very Accurate, I think the problem with the "low speed tolls are that they are still tethered to "toll booths" with human beings crossing the path. We still need collectors and physical booths, so for safety, you must slow down.
@Jack....Yea that is Jenna Elfman. Also, I totally remember the "jazz" question and going through the toll. I STILL think about that commercial everytime I use my EZPass on I-95.
At the time much of this stuff was in development or kinda working on limited networks. AT&T sure didn't predict Selleck shaving that 'stache, though. Or the meteoric rise of Jenna Elfman (with that Wall Street slickback hell yes).
it seems like these are advertising their future plans. I wouldn't say they predicted the future i would just say that they achieved their goals
I remember these commercials. There was another one missing from the set, where a teenage girl home computer speaks to her and tells her that it's still trying to get the best deal on concert tickets, and she says "good boy". They got that one wrong. I wish my computer would try to do the shopping for me and talk to me and understand. I remember looking at these commercial with anticipations to see if really they would be doing all those things. Looking back, looks like they got a lot of things right, such as gigantic flatscreens (no one had those back then) and the car gps. Neat.
"but apparently not cellphones..."
Ummm, maybe you weren't around then, but in 1993 cell-phones had already been around for the better part of a decade... So you are reading a little too much into the videos.
Now you say something