Innovating at AT&T: Partnering to Lead the Broadband Revolution Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Color cases should be printed in color to maximize their effectiveness. In 2010, the U.S. retail market value for next-generation non-handset wirelessly-enabled devices was just over $1 billion. With the popularity of mobile Internet, e-mail, user demand for information was surging at precisely the same time, and messaging, which left carriers scrambling to boost network capacity.

To gain more earnings in the information market, AT&T formed the Emerging Devices Organization (EDO) in 2008 as a distinct internal initiative to identify and partner with producers developing the next generation of mobile broadband apparatus - from eReaders to tablet computers, to implanted medical devices, to supply chain tracking devices, to dog collars and several more. AT&T executives considered that these partnerships would position the firm for its next "winning play," following the trail it blazed in 2007 with Apple for the iPhone. The EDO was run by Glenn Lurie, who had headed the team that partnered with Apple. He knew from experience that to get the marketplace with the next game-altering apparatus, his team would have to develop a new partnership model inside AT&T and together with the ecosystem of partners who were poised to head the global mobile broadband revolution. Doing so within a firm the size of AT&T would be rough, but Lurie considered his group was up to the job.

PUBLICATION DATE: June 29, 2012 PRODUCT #: 812124-HCC-ENG

This is just an excerpt. This case is about INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP