AT&T got the future pretty right in 1993

Seth Weintraub
|
March 07, 2009
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A colleague at Computerworld posted this Magnum P.I.-narrated piece from AT&T in 1993. Even though they kill us with high iPhone bills, they kinda nailed this one.

Comments (8)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 07, 2009 - 7:50pm

I remember these ads, just about the time that the Internet was starting to get some visibility outside academic circles with the software like Gopher and Mosaic.

Now just about everything in those ads came true. I wonder if we thought their speculation was mostly ridiculous. I like swiping a card, in your car, at speed, to pay a toll. Looks dangerous!

In any case, yep, $70 a month for an iPhone! Who'd knew these things would be based on a monthly plan (back then, almost all long-distance calls were pay-by-the-minute). Then again, back then 28.8 kbps V.Fast modems was the best us home users could do. I still have one somewhere...

Of course, entry level Verizon and Sprint "smartphone" plans all cost $70/month, and T-Mobile's is $65/month with a mere 300 minutes, so it isn't as if AT&T is out of line compared with competitors.

MANGU (not verified) | March 07, 2009 - 8:00pm

They got the pay phone thing wrong:)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 07, 2009 - 8:28pm

So where are these AT&T maps and AT&T toll debit units? I'm pretty sure that AT&T did not bring those to me. They only recently have done video on demand with U-verse... Also that notebook doesn't look like it's from '93.

They may have had grand aspirations, but they still can't get their core services correct.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 08, 2009 - 8:23pm

Remember that the AT&T of the 1990's is NOT the AT&T of today.

That old AT&T was the leading telecommunications company back then.

Then they sold AT&T wireless, which was bought by Cingular. Several years later AT&T was bought and consumed by another company, SBC.

And soon there after, SBC decided that AT&T was a more recognized brand, and changed their name to AT&T.

And, around the same time, SBC bought Cingular, and renamed it AT&T Mobility (?)

And there we go. The people who brought that commercial to us in 1993 no longer work for that old company. It's simply gone.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 07, 2009 - 11:48pm

... But given the time then and what we see now, It's impressive just how right they really were. Not over-the-top dreamy or even wacked out in a different method... pretty right on for the most part.

For those not so impressed, challenge yourself to how close you will be to what's ahead in the year 2025!!

some guy (not verified) | March 08, 2009 - 10:08pm

What is a Phone Booth?

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KlarkKent007 (not verified) | March 09, 2009 - 4:01am

This reminds me of EPCOT center, an optimistic look at the future. AT&T sponsored SpaceShip Earth back then.