The Future Was Grander in 1993
The practice of predicting the future in ads has always been dicey. But in 1993, AT&T got damn near everything right! Present-day dreamers Microsoft would kill for this record of adverfuturism accuracy:
AT&T's correct predictions in 1993: EZ Pass, GPS, text messages, Ticketmaster.com, webcams, video conferencing, movies on demand, online universities.
Incorrect: the prediction that these would be brought to you by AT&T.
Microsoft's 2009 predictions for 2019: drawing magically in the air, projecto-keys, ear-looking gizmos, houses and stores that will stalk you, the newspaper of the future, "digital wallet," pretty much everything that was in Minority Report, a grocery list that's digital, translation thingies, things for your boring job, plant diagnosing contraptions, fancy little remote controls.
All the good stuff has been done.