What's a Video Phone?

Today, we have several means through which we can communicate with others via video.  To name just a few, there's Skype, FaceTime, and SnapChat.  The company that I work for even has video calling tools in their personal software.  Video communication is all around us, and we use it all of the time.  It is easy to forget that video chatting is a fairly new universal development... or is it?  

Well.. the video chatting that we use today is a contemporary concept, but video communication has been around - or at least thought of - since the late nineteenth century.  However, it wasn't until the mid-1900's when the first video calling device was released for the public's use.  When I first heard about its existence, I was shocked.  But after reading this Mashable article that described it is a "historical failure," I wasn't surprised in the least that I never had heard of it before.

Fifty years ago today, Americans got the opportunity to make their first video telephone call.  The device, Bell's Model One PicturePhone, consisted of a black and white screen and required callers to remain completely motionless in order to see each other on the other end.

If the PicturePhone was released in the 50's, then why did it take so long for video calling to become a universal phenomenon?  The mashable article explains one answer:  "At $16 for three minutes, your up-to-15 minute video call could cost as much as $80 - the equivalent of $610 in 2014 dollars." But despite its costly use and unpopularity, companies continued to produce new and updated versions of the device for over forty years.

I have to agree with Mashable when it credits its downfall to "the need to buy not one, but two dedicated pieces of equipment."  If you wanted to make a video call, the receiver also had to own a PicturePhone to connect with you.   Because video calling was confined to one specific device, it ultimately failed.

What flipped the switch was the advent of the Internet and internet-enabled devices.  Practically anyone who is likely to make video calls owns a computer, cell phone, or other device that allows them to do so.  And, the calls are practically free.  

The story of the videophone makes me think that without the internet, we could still be limited to a specific device for video chatting.  Also, I wonder what the video chatting of today would look like if the 1956 PicturePhone had been commonly used in society.  If they could have made it smaller and more affordable, with higher quality, then maybe we would still be using the PicturePhone- or some version of it- today.  

It's crazy to think how far we have come in the world of video communication.  But it's also interesting to take a step back and actually see all of the places that we have been.