Newspaper article from 1963 predicted mobile phones, Siri, FaceTime and smart speakers
15,972 days before the iPhone was unveiled, a newspaper predicted the mobile phone, Siri, and more.
1963 newspaper article predicts cellphones, Siri and more | Image by PhoneArena
It's crazy when you think about it, but there are quite a large number of young adults who could never imagine a world without the iPhone. The late Steve Jobs unveiled the revolutionary device on January 9, 2007. The first handheld cellphone to be marketed to the public was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x in 1983. Just a decade earlier, Martin Cooper demonstrated a cellphone for the first time.
Some young adults never used a landline or a payphone
The point is that many young adults never had to make a call using a landline. Even more amazing is that many of the same youngsters have never had to fish through their pockets while out and about, looking for enough change to drop into a payphone to make a mobile call. Some of these same people never had to pay more for a long distance call and might not even have known that there was such a thing.
1963 newspaper article forecasts the cellphone, FaceTime, Siri, and smart speakers.| Image by Instagram
Even when Motorola launched the first handheld model aimed at consumers in 1983, no one could envision the creation of the smartphone and the touchscreen smartphone. In 1983, the iPhone would have seemed like science fiction.
Imagine a device that allows you to make and take calls practically anywhere, keeps you up to date with the latest news, sports, and weather, lets you listen to your favorite songs on your time schedule without a disc jockey, snap pictures and record video, and engage in video calls. Even in 1983, the fact that such a device fits in your pocket would have blown your mind. In 1963, you probably couldn't fathom the idea of having a phone in your pocket.
Newspaper story from 1963 predicted the modern smartphone
It was April 18, 1963 when a newspaper article in the Mansfield, Ohio News Journal caused a stir. 297 days before The Beatles' first Ed Sullivan appearance drew 73 million viewers, this story carried the headline, "You'll Be Able To Carry Phone In Pocket In Future." Accompanying the article was a photo of Mrs. Jean Conrad, a commercial representative for Mansfield Telephone Company.
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In the photo, Conrad was holding in her hand a device that looked like a foldable feature phone with a dial pad on the bottom and a speaker on the top. The caption said that the phone would someday be used by Mansfielders. The caption said that the phone was in the development stage and "was far in the future."
The article predicted FaceTime, Siri, and smart speakers
The article noted that the phone was being worked on in the lab, but was able to make and take calls at any location. The article also notes that we could see variants of this portable phone in the future including one called the "TV Phone" which would include a miniature television camera allowing for the transmission of images along with audio.
Another device mentioned in the article was a loudspeaker phone that housewives would use in the kitchen. This also became a device decades later and we know it as the smart speaker. The description of this device sounds like the digital assistants we use today, like Siri.
The first handheld cellphone was in stores approximately 20 years after this article was published
I wonder how many Mansfield News Journal readers read this on that April day in 1963 and thought that such devices would never be around in my lifetime. The newspaper article quoted Frederick Huntsman, a telephone company commercial manager who said, "This telephone is far in the future — commercially."
About 20 years later, cellphones started to appear everywhere. Another 22 years went by before the iPhone captured the attention of the world. You never know when something that seems impossible today can be produced in the future. The technology available in 1963 was nothing compared to what was available in 1983, 2007, and today. These tech breakthroughs are the difference-makers as they help make tech dreams come true.
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