On July 4, 1972, U.S. Design Patent No.: Des. 224,117 issued for a "Videotelephone Transceiver". The patent was assigned to Bell Telephone Laboratories and was presumably for an updated version of the Mod II Picturephone, which was then being manufactured by Western Electric and sold for use in AT&T's Picturephone service. Alas, the updated version of the Mod II never made it to market and AT&T's Picturephone service was discontinued less than three years after it was first offered. The Picturephone was a commercial flop and a magnificent one at that. At least one commentator has described the Picturephone as being "the most famous failure in the history of the Bell system".
The video telephone was envisioned soon after the telephone itself was first invented. Science fiction writers and futurists predicted that the video telephone would become ubiquitous in the near future. But that future did not come for several generations and the video telephone did not arrive in the form it was predicted. The early visionaries predicted that the video telephone would be a standalone device that was dedicated to enabling people to talk to each other while also viewing one another. Instead, the video telephone arrived as just one of a plurality of features provided by desktop and tablet computers and cellphones.
The failure of the video telephone to become a reality was not due to technological reasons. The technology for the video telephone existed back in the 1930s. Indeed, the German Post Office operated a video telephone network serving Berlin and several other German cities between 1936 and 1940. AT&T began its work on a video telephone system starting in the early 1950s and had a working prototype by 1956.
On June 24, 1964, AT&T unveiled the Picturephone service with a (video) phone call between Lady Bird Johnson (wife of President Linden Johnson), who was located in Washington D.C., and Dr. Elizabeth A. Wood of Bell Laboratories, who was located in New York City. Soon after, AT&T offered the Picturephone service between several different locations, but it was not really a workable commercial system. Callers had to make advanced reservations between two predetermined locations, for a specific date and time.
On July 1, 1970, AT&T launched the commercial Picturephone service in Pittsburgh. The Picturephone service utilized the Mod II, which had a 5 x 5.5-inch screen that displayed 251-line, 30 (frames per second) black & white images. U.S. Design Patent No. Des. 213,108 issued for the Mod II (see below). The cost of the Picturephone service (including the Mod II) was $160 per month, plus a hefty fee for each call. A three-minute Picturephone call between Washington D.C. and New York cost $16, while a three-minute Picturephone call between New York City and Chicago cost $27.
Due its high cost, not many people initially subscribed to the Picturephone service. This lack of subscribers, in turn, further discouraged the adoption of Picturephone. What good was a Picturephone if nobody else had one that you could communicate with? As a result, the Picturephone never took off and by mid-1973 the Picturephone service was discontinued.
The video telephone was envisioned soon after the telephone itself was first invented. Science fiction writers and futurists predicted that the video telephone would become ubiquitous in the near future. But that future did not come for several generations and the video telephone did not arrive in the form it was predicted. The early visionaries predicted that the video telephone would be a standalone device that was dedicated to enabling people to talk to each other while also viewing one another. Instead, the video telephone arrived as just one of a plurality of features provided by desktop and tablet computers and cellphones.
The failure of the video telephone to become a reality was not due to technological reasons. The technology for the video telephone existed back in the 1930s. Indeed, the German Post Office operated a video telephone network serving Berlin and several other German cities between 1936 and 1940. AT&T began its work on a video telephone system starting in the early 1950s and had a working prototype by 1956.
On June 24, 1964, AT&T unveiled the Picturephone service with a (video) phone call between Lady Bird Johnson (wife of President Linden Johnson), who was located in Washington D.C., and Dr. Elizabeth A. Wood of Bell Laboratories, who was located in New York City. Soon after, AT&T offered the Picturephone service between several different locations, but it was not really a workable commercial system. Callers had to make advanced reservations between two predetermined locations, for a specific date and time.
On July 1, 1970, AT&T launched the commercial Picturephone service in Pittsburgh. The Picturephone service utilized the Mod II, which had a 5 x 5.5-inch screen that displayed 251-line, 30 (frames per second) black & white images. U.S. Design Patent No. Des. 213,108 issued for the Mod II (see below). The cost of the Picturephone service (including the Mod II) was $160 per month, plus a hefty fee for each call. A three-minute Picturephone call between Washington D.C. and New York cost $16, while a three-minute Picturephone call between New York City and Chicago cost $27.
Due its high cost, not many people initially subscribed to the Picturephone service. This lack of subscribers, in turn, further discouraged the adoption of Picturephone. What good was a Picturephone if nobody else had one that you could communicate with? As a result, the Picturephone never took off and by mid-1973 the Picturephone service was discontinued.