In September 2008, Google and its Open Handset Alliance (OHA) partner, T-Mobile, launched the first Android-enabled smartphone in the U.S. market. Android was a new, open source, operating system for the wireless industry, developed by the OHA, a group which Google brought together in November of the previous year. The introduction of an open source operating system specifically designed for mobile telecommunications had the potential to make a substantial impact on the marketplace. The case describes the mobile telecommunications industry landscape Google faced, and the incentives that the dominant search engine provider would have for initiating the Android project. The case also describes the challenges facing Google, and the Android operating system. By studying the dynamics of the wireless industry available in the case, one may consider whether Google had the potential to become a Cross Boundary Disruptor (XBD) in the wireless industry.

MySQL, an open source software firm, grew from a small $10 million company in 2004 into a successful $60 million business by 2006. As it had anticipated, MySQL attracted the attention of the big three IT companies, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. Actively defending their high-margin, $10 billion database business, the big three implemented various strategies to combat their open source competitors. Details these actions and explores MySQL's options for preserving and growing its business in an increasingly competitive and hostile environment.

In 2004, MySQL was a small, $10 million Scandinavian software company that seriously challenged the big three IT companies, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle, in their high-margin, $10 billion database business. A new phenomenon in the software industry--open source--provided ways for new entrants to challenge the incumbents and gain a foothold in a low-cost segment of the market. This case provides the opportunity to study the forces that would determine whether MySQL could change the database software category in the way Linux did for server operating system space. MySQL relied on a low-cost business model with a global, virtual organization, and the case frames the question of whether this innovative, Internet-based business model could be scaled into a large, profitable growth company. The case describes the open source software phenomenon through a specific case, MySQL, and the innovator's dilemma: MySQL gained a foothold by serving the needs of the growing Web services market that was ignored by the big three DBMS players. After the foothold was established, MySQL was in the position potentially to challenge every DBMS player in the market.