Way, way back in the 1970s and 1980s, the Internet was in its infancy, at least for consumer (while DARPA continued the expansion of IP networks for government, educational institutions, and more). A hip little design and engineering company in Southern California invented one of the first “answering machines” and sold the product to Dillards, one of the largest retailers in the Southern U.S.
Knowing that having answering machines connected to POTS lines (“plain old telephone service”) seemed to make sense to Mark Brooks, CEO of PhoneMate, because it caused the phone to automatically receive the call, making that call billable. But what Brooks learned when AT&T initially refused to allow the PhoneMate or any answering machine to be connected to the PSTN (“public switched telephone network”) literally shocked him.
He was taking his company public given the response to his product, which was about to disrupt “answering services” – so he decided to sue “Ma Bell” – and won.
The entire, fascinating story is written up in colorful detail, with no punches pulled, by Brooks in his first book, a memoir, titled “85 is the New 65.” At 86, Brooks talked about winning this landmark case against AT&T, and ultimately all answering machines were connected to phone lines – arguably not only paving the way for the Internet with modems attached to the PSTM coming next, but also setting the stage for the Internet of Things which is now expected to be a $30-40B industry by 2020.
PhoneMate devices weighed in at 10 pounds and were enclosed in a wooden boxes. The PhoneMate Model 400 was the first commercial answering machine, holding 20 messages on a reel-to-reel tape.
“I wrote a long letter to the Chair of the AT&T Board, John DeButts, pointing out that the answering machine would be a great boon and revenue producer for his Company,” Brooks writes in his book. “Not only would every call be completed and provide income, but the party called would know to return the call, another revenue producing activity.”
At the time, AT&T had no interest in delivering new services to consumers, but over time, the U.S. Federal Court ruled in favor of the Company and forced AT&T to open their phone lines, paving the way to new interconnection technologies and policies, and cracking open the Consumer Electronics Industry, World Wide Web, and IoT.
Mr. Brooks’ colorful and often treacherous life as a CEO in several publicly traded companies is only one part of his memoir which also shares his philosophy on family, the loss of his wife, and the discovery of his love for writing late in life.
Brooks is working on his second book while residing at a Brookdale assisted living home in Ontario, California. 10% of the price of each of his first book is being donated to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“What’s most gratifying for me,” Brooks said in a recent interview, “is not beating AT&T. It is witnessing all the innovations happening because the Internet was opened up to the public, to many young inventors and engineers I am reading about, who are creating ‘things’ that don’t just answer the phone – they answer the call to service.”
Brooks hinted that his next book will share the stories of his peers at Brookdale.
“There is so much life here, and so many life stories,” Brooks said. “I’m living proof that the best is always yet to come – all we need to do is decide it to be so.”
Edited by
Ken Briodagh