The videophone has never quite taken off despite attempts dating from the 1960s, when America’s AT&T demonstrated the Picturephone, to persuade consumers that vision would enhance the communications experience.

I suspect there are many reasons for the failure of Picturephone and all the videophone devices that have followed, among them cost, poor image quality and complexity. But, most importantly, the ordinary telephone provides a level of privacy/ambiguity that most people appear comfortable with. Most consumers, it seems, do not want their partners, in-laws, friends or colleagues to be able to see them when on the phone.