February 12, 2008
The PESTER, 1970: Earliest multimedia phone
Conceived at the beginning of the 70s by Euan McGhee and John Drummond, PESTER is thought to be the earliest known example of a multimedia phone. It contains a cassette player, camera and games as well as a phone.
The original premise of the PESTER was to allow businessmen to move outside of the office while staying in contact at any time. As it developed through prototyping, new features were added, and it became somewhat of a status symbol amongst the young and successful.
PESTER relied on a wired network using Connection Points positioned at convenient locations. These included parks, shopping centres and restaurants as well as regular sites along streets. These Connection Points allowed callers to access an operator who could let them communicate with landline users, fellow PESTER owners and also record and send vocal messages. ...
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