The Exciting Moment of a Video Call 50 Years Ago + Video

According to SaedNews Science and Technology Service, video calling is one of the most practical ways to communicate, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, people came to appreciate its importance even more. Video calls have made connecting with friends and loved ones easier, filling the gap left by in-person meetings. Apps like WhatsApp and Skype are installed on millions of devices, simplifying video chats. In the past, making a video call was far from simple, and technology had to travel a long road to reach platforms like Skype and Zoom.

Fifty years ago today, the first commercial video call took place between Peter Flaherty, mayor of Pittsburgh, and John Harper, CEO of Alcoa, using the Picturephone Mod II. This device was launched by AT&T in 1970 and was the first video phone people could use at home or in the office.

The story of the first video call goes back to before the 1970s, with the idea emerging around the same time as the telephone and cinema, roughly a hundred years prior. However, slow technological progress prevented this dream from becoming a reality until the second half of the 20th century. Early closed-circuit systems included a camera and a television, connected via wiring to a similar system at another location, enabling video communication.

In the 1930s, AT&T began developing a system that allowed video streaming over the telephone network, eliminating the need for specialized cabling. The company showcased its prototype video phone at the 1939 World’s Fair. In 1964, AT&T launched the Picturephone Mod I, installing booths in New York, Washington, and Chicago.

Like other closed-circuit systems of the time, callers and recipients had to schedule a specific time for their Mod I calls. Calls were extremely expensive—one three-minute call would cost about $133 in today’s dollars. Public interest was limited, and the booths were soon closed.

With smaller cameras and advances in signal compression, telephone switching boards, and circuitry, AT&T developed the Picturephone Mod II for home and office use. It featured a 5.5-by-5-inch black-and-white screen with very low resolution and a 0.8-megapixel camera.

Beneath the camera was a mirror, allowing users to show their hands or documents on the table to the other party—a primitive version of today’s screen-sharing. Users paid $160 per month (around $1,092 today) for up to 30 minutes of video calling, a substantial amount of time.

Yet Mod II also saw limited adoption. By 1973, only about 450 units were in use, far short of AT&T’s projection of 100,000 Picturephones on its networks by 1975.

Between the 1950s and 1970s, AT&T spent roughly half a billion dollars on research and development for video phones and continued pursuing Picturephone success into the 1990s. High costs, low demand, and people’s reluctance to be seen during calls led to the product’s failure.

Today, billions of people worldwide use smartphones and tablets to make video calls with someone on the other side of the globe in just seconds. The Mod II never became AT&T’s revolutionary product, but it was an important step forward in the development of video calling technology.