It’s hard to believe, your company’s video conferences, your tablet, your smartwatch, your Netflix subscription, the OBE you use for electronic tolls, the automatic translator that helps you understand that Chinese website… All and more. was probably figured out more than 30 years ago by an AT&T technician. If you don’t believe me, take a moment and take a look at the video we’ve included below: In 1993, AT&T —Courtesy of Douglas Engelbart— technological forecasting exercise The most brutal of the 20th century.

Brutal for his incredible purpose. And in a way, for how well it describes much of the consumer technology that will revolutionize our lives thirty years from now.

The story of how the multinational corporation launched an epic cabalistic spectacle is almost as interesting as the result itself. In the 1990s, AT&T worked with Bell Labs on innovative lines of work in areas such as telemedicine, video compression, video conferencing… but faced a worrying image problem: the effort did not reach the street. People perceived AT&T as a company with no major changes expected.

How do you imagine the future?

“We were losing ground in a critical area. Consumer technology was quickly being overtaken by companies like Sony or Panasonic in the video, music and computing fields. This led to a consumer survey that showed AT&T had lost the battle for public perception over a range of specs, such as being “the company most likely to bring new technology to 18- to 34-year lives.” Glen Kaiser, director of the American multinational in the 90s, said: announced after a while.

What did AT&T do? Easy: tell me how you see the future.

To make up for the lost ground, AT&T decided to throw the house out the window and launch an ambitious ad campaign with a world-class team. At the head of the director was David Fincher, who had almost just stepped off the red carpet with ‘Alien 3’. They hired Robin Williams and then Tom Selleck, the voice that brought the famous ‘Magnum’ to life, to announce the spots.

The result was a series of points that were as simple as they were well thought – seemingly simple, of course. AT&T’s idea was to tell the audience, the public, and ultimately the consumer what technology would change their lives in the future. The plot of the campaign couldn’t be simpler, almost ABCD: From the very beginning, the company asked questions with a futuristic air, and then concluded with a powerful sentence: “You will be” (you will do this). And how? Fine with AT&T.

– “Have you ever had a phone call on your wrist?” Off-screen voice boomed as a man was seen chatting from his watch on the screen. With that clear hook and the attention in the audience’s pocket, the point ended: “You will. And the company that will bring it to you: AT&T.”

He did the same thing in distance lessons thanks to the screens.

Buying personalized tickets with a computer.

Movie selection on demand.

Simultaneous translation.

And so long, too long, etc.

Were his predictions correct? Wow, he did.

Under Fincher’s direction, AT&T’s spotlights show people making calls at video conferences with something very similar to today’s smartwatches; send documents wirelessly to fax from their tablet; GPS navigation systems for cars, electronic tolls; remote classes with the help of a computer; screens with movie-on-demand offers; automations that allow you to monitor your home remotely; telemedicine services; virtual assistants or computer ticket purchases. And it’s a concept that isn’t too different from Amazon Go, as part of a long etc. involving booths or cashierless shops to renew a driver’s license.

All with a certain retro touch, very old gold —smartwatches have the same resemblance to modern smartwatches as a cave and a skyscraper—; but the bottom line is it’s true: In 2022 there’s a lot of the consumer technology we use today.

The irony of history is AT&T got the hard part right; but not in the question for the note.

Many of this technology would eventually arrive, another even more spectacular than the 1993 commercials showed, and if some of his predictions didn’t come true, it was a matter of logistics or bureaucracy; however… Do we owe this directly to AT&T?

As the journal points out soundAlthough its role was significant, much of the software and hardware would come with other companies, companies that were still baking in Silicon Valley in the early ’90s or were not yet born. E-commerce giant Amazon was founded in 1994.

The fact that the shooting does not hit the nail on the head of the heroes does not detract from merit in any case. historical campaignIt’s so popular that for its 25th anniversary in 2018, AT&T has decided to return to the tech pool and anticipate some of the big changes we’ll see in the years to come.

All that being said at the moment, they don’t seem to be misled.