Videophones, transmitting a picture of the speaker as well as his or her voice, are older than most people think. Commercial systems were used in France and Germany during the 1930s but they were cumbersome and expensive.
Even the American company AT&T's Picturephone of 1956 was crude - transmitting an updated still image only once every two seconds. By 1964 AT&T had developed a complete experimental system, the 'Mod 1'. To test it, the public was invited to place calls between special exhibits at Disneyland and the New York World's Fair. In both locations, visitors were carefully interviewed afterward by a market research agency.
The findings were not encouraging. It turned out people didn't actually like Picturephone. It was too bulky, the controls too unfriendly, and the picture too small.
Even the American company AT&T's Picturephone of 1956 was crude - transmitting an updated still image only once every two seconds. By 1964 AT&T had developed a complete experimental system, the 'Mod 1'. To test it, the public was invited to place calls between special exhibits at Disneyland and the New York World's Fair. In both locations, visitors were carefully interviewed afterward by a market research agency.
The findings were not encouraging. It turned out people didn't actually like Picturephone. It was too bulky, the controls too unfriendly, and the picture too small.
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