Noon - 1:00 PM
Session B - DH4:
Wireless Portals and the Entertainment - Content Industries
The hottest growth areas in the technology space are the Wireless and PDA arenas and these sectors are evolving from simple communication and data management tools, transforming themselves into portals for content and entertainment. The relationships between the device manufacturer, the Telco or gateway, the infrastructure provider, platform or protocol developer and finally the content provider can be best understood as huge interlocking systems of ventures, partnerships and syndication relationships. In this session, we will try to understand how these relationships are evolving and what the business models and marketplace of the wireless portals/PDAs and their content of the future will look like.
Gordon Paddison, Senior V.P., Worldwide Interactive Marketing & Business Development, New Line Cinema
Eric Burger, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Cingular Wireless
Benjamin Feinman, Senior Director, Product Marketing and Media Development, ActiveSky
Gregg Makuch, Senior Product Manager, Mobile Products and Services, RealNetworks
Stephen Wiener, Senior Technical Product Manager, Comverse
Peter Hoddie, President & co-founder, Generic Media
Pallavi Shah, Market Development Manager, Streaming and Video Infrastructure, Sun Microsystems, Moderator
Pallavi Shah, Market Segment Manager, Digital Video Infrastructure, Sun, Microsystems: Pallavi Shah is responsible for recruiting and managing strategic partners for Sun in the streaming and rich media infrastructure market. Since joining Sun in 1995, she has been involved in bringing key components of Sun's advanced digital media technology to market. She chaired ISO's MPEG4-Java standards group and formed multi-company alliances to promote Java and protect Sun's strategic interests. Prior to Sun, Ms Shah was with the Sarnoff Corporation (RCA research lab). She represented the HDTV Grand Alliance during the development of HDTV and pioneered the world's first E-Commerce application of interactive HDTV at NAB-95. She has served as a panelist/speaker at several industry conferences, published papers and has several pending patents. She hold M.S. from Utah State University.
Gordon Paddison, Senior Vice-President of Worldwide Interactive Marketing an
Stephen Wiener is a Senior Technical Product Manager for Comverse. He is currently responsible for the launch of Comverse Mobile Game Service. Prior to his current position Steve led the Advanced Development Mobile Game effort and developed the mobile game business plan. Prior to that he was part of the Americas Division Product Marketing Group defining enhancements to Comverse Messaging Product int eh area of Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning. Steve also provided project management for one of Comverse’s largest customers. Steve has brought to market more than 25 new products in his 35 year career. He has been involved with the telecommunications and data communications industries for more than 18 years. Steve holds a Bachelors of Electrical Engineering degree from City College of the City University of New York and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from Northeastern University. Steve also holds a Masters of Business Administration from Babson College.
Benjamin Feinman, Senior Director, Product Marketing and Media Development, A
ctiveSky: As Senior Director of Product Marketing and Media Development, Benjamin Feinman is responsible for product and media strategy, application development and marketing for ActiveSky. Prior to joining ActiveSky, Benjamin Feinman spent nearly 15 years in the media and technology sector. Most recently he served as Vice-President of Product Development and Programming for NBCi Internet, the Internet division of the National Broadcasting Company where he was responsible for NBCi.com, a top ten internet site and custom broadband solutions for national DSL providers including Verizon, Prodigy, SBC, and DirectTV. Previously, he served as Group Product Manager for broadband products at Snap.com and was part of the senior team that managed the integration of Snap into NBCi.com. Previously he served as a Senior Program Manager and Senior Content Evangelist for Netscape Communications Corp, where he lead significant Entertainment and media related iniatives including the launch of Netcenter, Netscape’s portal offering and enhancement of Netscape Navigator’s multimedia capabilities. Prior to Netscape, Benjamin served as a technical consultant to top high-tech companies and institutions including Apple Europe, the University of California, Ziff Davis, and Apple, Inc. Benjamin Feinman holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Journalism from San Francisco State University.Peter Hoddie, founder and President of Generic Media, has been a leading force in streaming media innovation for the past decade. Hoddie’s visions and wealth of experience in the industry are highly regarded. While his views are at times contentious, they are influential in the streaming and media industry. As President of Generic Media – providing the industry’s only comprehensive multi-format solution for hosting, dynamic encoding and delivery of streaming media – Hoddie continues to spearhead innovation in streaming technologies. The Generic Media Publishing Service enables content producers to publish digital content once for immediate delivering across multiple formats, devices and platforms, on demand of the user, all while managing the entire process through a single, streamlined interface. It frees content owners from the streaming media technology treadmill, allowing them to focus on developing lasting value from their media assets. Generic Media’s service drastically extends the reach of content, furthering the advancement of the streaming industry. Aside from enabling corporate content producers to extend the reach of their content, Generic Media has also sparked consumer interest in the use of streaming media on devices such as PDAs and cellphones with gMovie software. gMovie Maker enables consumers to easily convert digital files on their PC or Mac into the gMovie format, and then view on the gMovie Player which is freely downloadable to any Palm OS-enabled device. In February 2000, Peter Hoddie co-founded Generic Media with Angela Lai, VP of Engineering. The company's investors include SOFTBANK Venture Capital, Sony and NTT. Prior to co-founding Generic Media, Peter Hoddie served for ten years at Apple Computer. While at Apple, Hoddie led the technical direction of the company’s multimedia software, QuickTime, and was a key member of the team responsible for its overall strategy. While at Apple, he was awarded the title of DEST (Distinguished Engineer, Scientist or Technologist) for his work on QuickTime and Internet standards, one of only 10 people to have received this title in Apple's history. He has been a part of several significant standards efforts including W3C's SMIL and ISO's MPEG-4 and JPEG-2000. Hoddie’s leadership moved QuickTime from the pioneering computer based video technology to one of the premiere video formats on the Web with more than 100 million people using QuickTime worldwide. Hoddie is an experienced speaker, including several keynote speeches with Steve Jobs. His speaking engagements have also included Streaming Media West, NAB (National Association of Broadcasters), Digital Hollywood Broadband, Digital Media Outlook, DEMO, DEMO Japan, m2000, and QuickTime Live!.
Gregg Makuch, Senior Product Manager, Mobile Products and Services, RealNetworks, Inc.: Gregg is responsible for developing mobile content services and user interface functionality on the mobile player. He successfully led mobile content aggregation for the Nokia 9210 Communicator, enabling the industry's first commercially available content offerings for the Symbian OS platform. Gregg works with industry leaders Nokia, Compaq, and leading international content providers and mobile operators. Previous to this position, Gregg worked at RealNetworks as Segment Marketing Manager for Media and Product Manger for the Real Broadcast Network, RealNetworks' Internet broadcast service, where he helped launch the business in 1997. Before joining RealNetworks in 1997, Gregg worked as a strategy consultant for Braxton Associates and Price Waterhouse, and in Brand Management at Kraft General Foods, working on the Velveeta Sliced Cheese and Philadelphia Cream Cheese franchises. He has a BSE in Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Eric Burger, Director, Strategic Partnership, Cingular Wireless: As Director of Strategic Partnerships for Cingular Wireless, Eric Burger oversees strategic partnerships for the company’s consumer market. In this role, Berger is also responsible for the strategy and execution of WML & SMS content, and he was instrumental in the launch of Cingular’s micro-payments, ringtones, youth portal and gaming platform. Berger joined Cingular in December 2000 as the Director of Data Content and Partnerships. Prior to his work at Cingular, Burger served as Director of Marketing for SNET Wireless in Connecticut, where he was responsible for product management and rollout, marketing communication, media spending, and promotions. Berger’s years of experience in the wireless industry include time spent as Manager- Merchandising and Retail Development for diAx Mobile (Zurich, Switzerland). He has also served in several positions for Southwestern Bell Wireless, including Manager- Retail Products/Merchandising, Assistant Manager for Promotions, and Assistant Manager for Marketing Communications. Berger began his career in 1992 at American Safety & Abatement Products, Inc. where he served as Marketing Director. Berger graduated from the University of Missouri, St. Louis, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a concentration in Marketing.