• Business Week, Monday, July 6, 2009 10:46 AM

A team of about a dozen AT&T wireless employees is operating like a start-up inside the telecom behemoth with the express goal of expanding the way that people use its wireless network, Roger O. Crockett reports. Assembled in the corporate campus outside Atlanta, they are looking at all manner of electronics to change the way people live and work.

Figuring out how to take advantage of mobile access to the Internet is critical to AT&T's growth, says AT&T CEO Randall L. Stephenson. "It supports everything we're going to be doing over the next five to 10 years."

In the future, AT&T plans to offer such gadgets as digital cameras that link to the Net for sharing and printing photos; tools that help city agencies monitor parking meters from afar; and devices that alert businesses when they need to replace candy or soda in vending machines. "In three to four years it's not inconceivable a user may have four to five devices hooked onto a wireless plan," says mobile consultant Chetan Sharma.

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