Ahead of its time: Finnish video phone flopped in 1984

Finland’s first video phone, the Vistacom, debuted in 1984 with a camera and screen, but the public was not ready for it, according to Anna Savikko of Helsinki’s Phone Museum.

The device was unveiled at a major public event covered by television cameras, the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) noted. Savikko called it “too far ahead of its time.”

The museum, open only by appointment, showcases phones from the 1878 whistle-call model to President Urho Kekkonen’s custom 1973 desk set. Exhibits also include early switchboard equipment and the first Nordic automatic exchange, launched in Helsinki in 1922.