Comment by toast0
1 year ago
Almost all of the things I can think of that came from bell labs are things that helped their business. The only thing that I don't know how it helped their business was Hemo the Magnificent and similar films; but I'm sure those helped with PR.
Monopoly may have helped them pay for such r&d, but vertical integration is what made it possible for so much r&d to be relevant to the business.
I think it ended up helping their business because they deliberately made it so later, but it’s not clear how some inventions would help their business in advance. From the book there was quite a few things that sat on the shelf for years until someone figured out a way to use them later.