Videophones for the Masses ... Skype and FaceTime

Although AT&T introduced it's much lauded Picturephone at the 1964 World's Fair (seen below),

the concept of VideoTelephony was conceived many years earlier, most successfully implemented by the Germans, connecting Munich and Nuremberg, a connection broken after the outbreak of WWII.  The videophone has become important keeping families together, in conducting business via videoconferencing and in the setting of telemedicine.  It is essential for those using sign language for communication.

With the introduction of FaceTime by Apple and video service on Skype, video communications are available to most everyone via several off the shelf products.  We are rapidly catching up to The Jetsons.

Image Credits: (top) AT&T; (bottom) Hanna-Barbera Productions
          Picturephone is a trademark of AT&T