AT&T Picturephone Mod II
1969

The Picturephone, unveiled by AT&T at the New York World’s Fair in 1964, was the culmination of decades of work by Bell Labs on transmitting imagery via telephone. Major cities saw public demonstration kiosks through the mid-1960s, and the technology was refined into the consumer-focused Mod II unit in 1969.

Though AT&T had strong hopes for the launch of widespread Picturephone service in 1970, consumers did not find the novelty worth the high cost. At its peak Picturephone only had around 500 subscribers nationwide, and the service was quietly discontinued within the decade.

Two-way video communication would not become common until decades later, when inexpensive webcams and smartphones combined with widespread Internet access reignited the public’s appreciation of long-distance video communication.