The $2,000 Video Phone From 1987

Do you know about VisiTel? Video calling technology is such a mundane feature of smartphones now that it would be weird if a device didn't have it. But the idea for the first FaceTime is buried deep in vintage tech history, all the way back in the 70's... the 1870's. And most people hated the idea of it.

By the time Mitsubishi's VisiTel videophone graced the cover of Popular Science in 1988, video calling had already gone through generations of inventions, advances, and serious setbacks. When we finally acquired a pair of brand new VisiTel phones to make one single video phone call, humanity had already been through billions of dollars of failures, misguided promises, and losing gambles -- including by Bell Labs, likely the most innovative company of the 20th century.

It's been 150 years since we started thinking about and criticizing live video communication. And we still haven't fully answered the technology's most basic question: does anyone really want to be seen?

#technology #science #innovation #retro #Visitel