AT&T accurately predicts the future, incorrectly picks delivering company

AT&T has a long history of hanging around in the world of technology, and apparently a group of prophets were running the show circa 1993, but the wise men and women in charge were a bit slow on engaging their own predictions. A marvelous artifact of "what technology would become" was recently unearthed, showing AT&T's hypotheses about what devices and marvels we'd see in the years to come. The video file (click on for the YouTube demonstration), originally found on a CD-ROM called "Newsweek Interactive," speaks of e-readers, in-car GPS units, tablet PCs, WiFi, memory chips, interactive ATMs, videoconferencing, biometrics, digital medical cards, downloadable flicks, on-demand content, distance education, and even internet browsers -- all years before these things hit the mainstream (or were even invented). Ironically, none of these creations were crafted directly by AT&T, as other firms apparently pulled the trigger on these ideas before the telecom giant could do it itself. While it's easy to take text messaging, Bluetooth syncs, and quad-core processors for granted now, we've got to wonder how wild things will be in just another decade further from 1985.

[Jeff @ Dec 6th 2006 11:19PM]

These were actually a series of commercials that ran on regular old TV - just to clarify that fact, as the way the submission is worded makes it sound as if this is some archeological artifact that was recently "unearthed" from some secret AT&T vault. This was their early 90's marketing campaign - I saw all of these ads, as I'm sure a lot of other people here did.

The thing is, I don't believe any of these technologies were original ideas even back then. I mean this is not ancient history we're talking about here; this was the 90's. GPS existed, as did touch-screens (heck, touch-screen PDA's were already popular), and pretty much everything here was at least already being talked about. I don't remember thinking any of the things in these ads was particularly noteworthy or outlandish, although I do remember thinking it would be cool if at least a few of these ideas really did hit the mainstream.

And of course, like a modern-day Nostradamus, this campaign had just as many misses as hits. I don't know anybody that "tucks their baby in from a phone booth", for example. Or opens their door with the sound of their voice. Or carries their medical history in their wallet. In fact, all of these are now pretty horrifying ideas, as security-conscious as we've all become these days. They're all possible ideas as AT&T shows them, but there are pretty compelling reasons why we don't use them.

I also read part of the story at the "read" link, which is just inaccurate. It states, for one thing, that web browsers were "a year or two away" in 1993. In fact, NCSA Mosaic was released in February of 1993 and it was not even the first browser. AT&T's inspiration for that idea here is pretty obvious. All of these ideas no doubt have similar lineages. They were fairly new, but nothing most nerds of the day hadn't already heard of, or even that magazines like Popular Science weren't already heavily hyping.

[Manuel @ Dec 6th 2006 11:46PM]

?

[Mauricio @ Dec 6th 2006 11:58PM]

does anyone know when Widescreen TV's made their "Debut? or when they were first introduced at an event like CES?

[Jon @ Dec 6th 2006 11:54PM]

I see what you mean about AT&T not inventing these things themselves, but you may have missed the mark on AT&T's meaning, perhaps?

In a way, AT&T _does_ bring all these things to you. They may not have invented them personally, but they do indeed provide services world-wide that make all those things they mentioned possible, yes? :) Not exclusively, sure. But they do have a big part in networking solutions of many kinds.

[Derrick @ Dec 7th 2006 10:10AM]

Anyone else see a resemblance between the "meeting in your bare feet" laptop (at least the brief glimpse we get of it) and todays MacBook Pros? His Jobs-ness is clearly just ripping off AT&T.

[Raz 4 life @ Dec 7th 2006 12:01AM]

In the year 2000!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZBYFljumWQ

[icepop4who @ Dec 7th 2006 12:04AM]

well, sound recognizable door locks are in use in some facility, and carrying your medical history in five languages on a flash drive are getting more popular.

heck, it's definitively a lost chance for at&t for not making a huge profit on some of these technology. what a shame.

[KazO @ Dec 7th 2006 12:20AM]

I remember seeing those on TV back then. Let's see, in 93 I was in college and having e-mail on campus was pretty much expected, so it's not like it was the ancient past.

There was one actual product in one of the commercials, not used in an actual way. The "tablet PC" was a AT&T EO, though it never had an aircard or a color screen.

[chunsy @ Dec 7th 2006 12:29AM]

Hey - was that an early shot of Jenna Elfman in a scene of her phoning a baby?

[Peter @ Dec 7th 2006 12:34AM]

Are you sure they were from 93? I've seen all those ads in the last few years on TV.

I saw a wide screen tv in a show Window in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1992.

[Leif @ Dec 7th 2006 12:56AM]

The fact that almost all of these technologies that seemed relatively distant in 1990 are available everywhere today just shows you how effective this ad campaign was. I'd be willing to bet that the demand created from these commercials pushed such products out the door perhaps a couple of years sooner than if the ads never ran.

Thank you AT&T!

[z @ Dec 7th 2006 1:06AM]

Just to let know those who tink the web didn't exist yet, it did since 1991. Many in the university field already used it by 1993. Video streaming apps did exist at the time AT&T made its fantastic predictions, and most of these apps where already far in development if not already functional, just not cheap. The writings of someone like JCR Licklider (boss of the ARPA, aka DARPA, at one time) in the sixties are a bit 'more' revolutionnary... check this pdf if interested.. AT&T in 1993, that's thirty years too late... http://memex.org/licklider.pdf

[Evan Evans @ Dec 7th 2006 11:40AM]

Have you ever had an idea for a patent ... and broadcast it on international television before you patented it? You will! lol ... losers.

Evan Evans

[HyperHacker @ Dec 7th 2006 2:42AM]

Yeah, "new" technology generally tends to be "technology that was invented 20 years ago but has been ridiculously expensive until now".

[Vexorg @ Dec 7th 2006 3:49AM]

As with others here, I remember seeing these ads on TV during the eatly 90s, in the height of the "Long Distance Wars" between AT&T, MCI and Sprint, complete with big-budget ad campaigns. The whole thing seems rather silly now, as landline telephone service has rapidly gone from an everyday necessity to a niche market within a decade, and the market for long distance service all but disappeared. It really emphasizes the fact that AT&T really didn't do much to keep themselves relevant. They'll survive in their niche (which isn't ever going to go away completely) but I don't think we're ever going to see a return to the days of Ma Bell.

[DeafLEGO @ Dec 7th 2006 3:57AM]

Where are the cell phones in them? Funny, the cell phone and the break-up of ma bell and staying with LD is what killed AT&T

[andyo @ Dec 7th 2006 8:15AM]

Hmm, funny how they are all about touch screens, but didn't predict flat screens!

[Michael @ Dec 7th 2006 11:36AM]

To accompany this marketing campaign, AT&T also made the world's first banner ads: http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/first66.html

[Brad Pliner @ Dec 7th 2006 6:18PM]

I rememeber seeign these when they aired.

These predictions were not terribly forward-thinking at the time. I believe all of these technologies were available or the obvious direction we were going, but maybe not commercially available.

My question is this.. Is that David Duchovny's voice?

[Chris @ Dec 7th 2006 10:18PM]

I definatly remember seeing these commercials and did not think they were all that forward thinking. And I'm with Jon, ATT never said they would MAKE these things, just that they would BRING them to us, and they have. ATT have huge amounts of fiber and cell towers and reaps plenty of profit from "bringing" these kinds of things to us.

[Bernard @ Dec 8th 2006 1:28AM]

Tom Selleck's voice

[D Kim @ Dec 9th 2006 1:47PM]

ANYONE NOTICED THAT THE NARRAING VOICE IS TOM SELLECK??? AHAHAHAHA