A Look at Connectix QuickCam — One of the First Webcams in the World

The Connectix Corporation was founded in October 1988 by Jon Garber, Bonnie Fought, and Roy McDonald. (Garber and Fought later married.) The company made both hardware and software for Macs and PCs. Connectix created several groundbreaking products over the years, but the company was not a financial success. Over the years, the company sold off some of its technology to Logitech, Sony, and Microsoft. As of August 2003, the company no longer exists.

The Product

Connectix released the QuickCam in 1994. Initially, it was only available for the Mac and connected via an RS-422 connector. The camera used 16 shades of gray to produce an image 320 x 240 pixels in size. It could record a video at 15 frames per second. It sold for $100.

This was the first time that many people had access to webcam. (This was before the webcam named had been coined.) Many used the camera to make little movies. For example, the Connectix team recorded a Christmas greeting for 1994 (below). In the above video, the 8-bit Guy shows how he used his QuickCam, including how he used filters to take color images.

Later versions of the QuickCam moved to a USB port, and it became available for PCs. Time magazine named the QuickCam one of its All-Time 100 Gadgets. For an interesting looking at using a QuickCam on today’s systems, check out this article on Tedium.

Logitech purchased QuickCam from Connectix in 1998 for $25 million.