Introducing Touch Tone Dialing: A Huge Leap In 1963 [Video]

When Apple held that now legendary keynote where they introduced the iPhone for the first time, we were all insanely impressed with with this new way of using our phone. We weren’t just able to call someone anymore, we could also use our smartphone for a ton of other things. The impact has been huge, and since then, we have seen smartphones come and go like they were last year’s Christmas presents. There have of course been similar or even bigger “breakthroughs” in the history of the phone. When the first wireless home phones were introduced, I am sure people were as flabbergasted as they were when they saw the features of the iPhone for the first time.

When the world saw touch tone dialing introduced, it was just as impressive. Before that, you had to turn the rotor in order to call someone, and in many ways, it was quite unoptimized. I recently stumbled over a pretty neat clip from back in 1963 that depicts the demoing of the new and hot feature of touch tone dialing for the first time. By the looks of it, people were very impressed by all the time they could save time by pressing the buttons instead of turning the rotor.

Imagine a world without progress in the technology sector. That wouldn’t be much of a world as we know it today, right? Well, it’s moments like these that let us know we are making progress. These moments also show us how innovative the human species is. Have a glance at this short video demonstration of the touch tone dial, and you will surely appreciate that smartphone that you are holding in your hand just a little bit more. The biggest question is of course how we can optimize our dialing even more… What do you think?

Via: [Retro Thing]