AT&T Commercial From 1993 Eerily Comes True | Techland

Happy New Year! While most of you are making resolutions and predicting what’s going to happen, Buzzfeed has uncovered this gem from 1993 about the future of technology according to AT&T. See if any of these “ideas” have become reality. The company said, “You will.” And, we did.

We’re borrowing books from thousands of miles away with our e-readers, watching movies on demand and navigating without stopping for directions using our GPS devices. Of course, they also predicted that our laptops would stay just as heavy and we’d still be super reliant on sending faxes, but except for not predicting that AT&T would be ranked the worst cell phone service of 2010, the company pretty much got everything right. By the way, is that guy sending a fax from a tablet? How did they even know tablets would exist? I think AT&T should try making a commercial to tell us what will happen in the next decade. If they get it right the next time around, they must have a time machine or something.

More on TIME.com:

Verizon CEO: “There Are Too Many Players in the Industry”

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Want Phones to Replace Credit Cards

AT&T Turns to Twitter for Tracking Spotty Service

http://freemantim.wordpress.com freemantim

The best part of those commercials was Tom Selleck’s soothing voice, reassuring that “You Will”.
tereglith

I think the freakiest is the E-Pass. Most of them are just standard sci-fi future predictions, but when you think future you don’t usually think of toll roads being paid for automatically by your car. But they did, and now that’s what happens! Weird.
doubleang

two questions:

1. How many of those did AT&T actually bring us? I only associate one or two of them with that company.

2. What is a phonebooth?
Kelley K.

I think it’s safe to say that MOST engineers and techie nerds are sci-fi addicts and have been thinking Star Wars meets Weird Science since middle school. That’s why they’re inventors. I bet there’s a ‘Futuristic Stuff to Invent’ list. :D
beckie66

@doubleang – Rent ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ or watch some ‘Doctor Who’ to see what a phone booth is ;)
http://th0ughtsmith.wordpress.com th0ughtsmith

BURN!
http://th0ughtsmith.wordpress.com th0ughtsmith

“…but except for not predicting that AT&T would be ranked the worst cell phone service of 2010, the company pretty much got everything right.”

BURN!
http://dwrage.wordpress.com David Wrage

Let’s all remember that AT&T is not the same as at&t. The original AT&T, I believe (I might be wrong), is now actually a combination of SBC & Cingular. The original Ma Bell was so hampered by regulations that it could no longer compete and thus became a prime target by it’s former spin-offs, the Baby Bells and other upstarts. When it’s parts were taken over, SBC & Cingular adopted the original logos for their own.
http://smiffycat.wordpress.com smiffycat

Even more spookily, they appear to have predicted how Rosamund Pike (then 4 years old) would look in 2010.

(0:52-0:55)
http://smiffycat.wordpress.com smiffycat

Sorry, 14 years old!