Bell Labs was a research and scientific development company that Bell (later known as AT&T) founded in 1925. It largely closed in 2007, though bits of it still exist today. Over the years, that group arguably produced more widespread innovations than any other group in the world.
Among other things, they developed:
- The transistor
- Early mobile phone networks.
- UNIX
Just those three things would have been world-changing enough, but they produced thousands of other ideas — some worked out well, some didn’t.
In his book about Bell Labs (“The Idea Factory“), author Jon Gertner shares this excellent quote that helps to distinguish “great ideas” from true innovations:
“if you haven’t found a market to sell the product, you have not innovated.”
If you invent something that you believe to be incredibly innovative, you should be able to get others interested. If people don’t care, it’s likely that what you invented isn’t as special as you thought.
That said, I disagree with the quote a bit. A good example was the Picturephone that Bell Labs developed in the 1960’s, which was essentially a way to do video calls — 60 years ago!
The Picturephone failed miserably, as it was too expensive for home use, and not practical for business. Was it innovative? There’s no doubt that it was a technological marvel, but failure in the marketplace doomed it quickly.
Innovation doesn’t always have to lead to big sales, but it usually does. If something comes along claiming to be wildly innovative but it fails to attract consumers, then the real innovation likely isn’t done yet.
