3:45 PM - 5:00 PM
Track I:
Digital Gizmos and CE Products and Gadgets Revolutionize Entertainment: From Wireless Devices, Games & MP3 to DVD and HDTV
Perhaps the best indication of the future of the entertainment and media industry is to understand the forces at work in the consumer electronics industry. From wireless devices, DVDs, photography, computers and gaming to HDTVs, audio systems and home networks, the CE industry has laid the groundwork for getting content into the hands of consumers. For visitors to this year’s CES trade show in Las Vegas, the movement toward HDTV - available at less than $1000 per unit - was clear - HD has arrived! And it is in the home. What other devices are hot? What can you expect to see down the road and what does it mean to you as a content provider? The CE industry is leading the way for the mobile consumer, the networked home, the digital photo hub, the car as mobile media center - it is helping to define the new digital lifestyle.
Dave Pahl, General Manager, Digital Still / Video Camera Product Group, Texas Instruments
Vivek Pathela, Senior Director, Product Management and Marketing, Home, MicroBusiness and Carrier products, NETGEAR
Fred Swan, Director of Marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business Unit, Logitech
Michael Fidler, Senior Vice President, Blu-ray Disc Group, Sony Corp. of America
Best Buy, speaker to be announced
Fred Davis, Chairman, Prosumer Media, Moderator
Dave Pahl, General Manager, Digital Still / Video Camera Product Gr
oup: As general manager for the Digital Still / Digital Video Camera Product Group at Texas Instruments, Pahl is responsible for managing overall marketing, applications, development and production. Prior to the DSC/DVC group, Pahl managed TI's Catalog C5000 DSP product line based in Houston. He has also held several sales and marketing management positions in San Jose and Dallas. Pahl earned a bachelor's of science degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University and a master's degree from the University of Texas in Austin.Dave Arland is Director of Public & Trade Relations for Thomson, the ma
nufacturer and marketer of RCA HDTV products and Hollywood's largest supplier of film processing and DVD authoring/manufacturing services. He is responsible for Thomson's contacts with the Federal Communications Commission and Congress and was one of the negotiators of the landmark agreement that will insure HDTV interoperability with Cable. An eleven year veteran of the consumer electronics industry, he is based in Indianapolis.Fred Swan, Director of Marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business Unit, Logitech: Fred Swan, an industry veteran with more than 16 years of experience in peripherals marketing and sales, has lead Logitech’s worldwide marketing efforts within interactive gaming for five years. He and his staff are responsible for the design and marketing of Logitech game controllers and the relationships with 3rd party game developers and console 1st parties. He has focused Logitech's gaming group on building a strong global position for the Company, providing great products that meet gamers’ stringent requirements, and working closely with 1st and 3rd parties to stimulate innovation in games. Under his guidance, Logitech has become the world’s most recognized brand for console and PC gaming accessories and has delivered ground-breaking products for the major platforms. Prior to joining Logitech, Mr. Swan held a range of positions at FWB, Inc. and Sony Electronics.
Vivek Pathela, Senior Director, Product Management and Marketing
, NETGEAR: Mr. Pathela is Senior Director of Product Management and Marketing for the Home, MicroBusiness and Carrier products at NETGEAR. He brings extensive networking and product marketing experience in the areas of corporate enterprise, telecommunications and service providers. He previously served in the position of Director of Product Management and Marketing, in which he was responsible for NETGEAR&Mac226;s home and business product strategies, product line management and marketing. Prior to joining NETGEAR in early 2000, he served over a period of 15 years at Hewlett Packard in the capacity of product management and marketing for the computer systems business and last served as the Worldwide Marketing Manager for the communications industry business unit. He holds a BS degree from Tufts University with an honorary double major in computer science and international relations. He also completed the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and participated in executive studies at the Haas School of Business/ UC Berkeley. Fred Davis, Chairman, Prosumer Media: With more than 25 years of computer experience and 15 years devoted to microcomputers, Fred has truly witnessed the development of the personal computer as have few others. The son of an IBM Fellow, Fred literally grew up on computers. He participated in the testing and development of the BASIC computer language when he was eleven through a timesharing hookup to the original BASIC system at Dartmouth. In the late '70s, Fred joined with the original personal computer pioneers as one of the early promoters of the Apple II. One of the first to successfully connect microcomputers to mainframes, while conducting research on database publishing at Stanford, he served as a computer consultant to large corporations and venture capitalists in the early days of the industry. In 1983, Fred was one of the founders of Ziff-Davis's computer publishing division, and worked on the start-up of ZD's first computer publication, A+ Magazine, which rapidly became the leading publication about Apple computers. Later, during Fred's tenure as Editor in Chief, A+ won the Computer Press Association award for best computer magazine. From A+, Fred moved to serve as Editor in Chief of MacUser magazine, where he founded MacUser Labs. He oversaw the development of the magazine during its period of most dramatic growth, bringing it up to parity with MacWorld. Next, Fred joined PC Magazine, the world's leading computer publication. As editor and Director of PC Magazine Labs, he helped develop benchmarks and scripts for testing thousands of products under review. Later, as editor of PC Week, he founded PC Week Labs and helped establish PC Week as the leading product information source for corporate computing. After leaving PC Week to return to California, Fred helped launch and served as a columnist for a number of Ziff-Davis publications including Windows Sources, Computer Life, Family PC, and the ZD Personal Computing newspaper supplement. During Fred's 12-year tenure as a senior executive at Ziff-Davis, he worked closely with CEO Bill Ziff and other top management on company strategy, product positioning, and new product development in areas including print, CD-ROM, trade shows, and online. As a key proponent of ZD's "consultative sales" approach, Fred worked with computer manufacturers such as Dell, Northgate, Zeos, Gateway, and Micron to develop direct sales strategies that used computer publications to create a new multi-billion dollar sales channel. Next, Fred worked with Wired CEO Louis Rosetto on the launch of Wired magazine, and was part of the original "Wired Brain Trust." After Wired, Fred worked with C|NET CEO Halsey Minor as an original member of the C|NET start-up team where he helped develop both television and online strategies. At both Wired and C|NET Fred played a major role in strategic issues, capital acquisition, marketing, editorial development, and recruitment of key personnel. From 1996 to mid-1997 Fred served as Director of Strategic Development for CMP Media during the period leading up to their successful IPO in August 1997. While working for CMP Media's CEO, Ken Cron, on long-term business strategies, Fred also wrote articles and columns in various CMP publications, including Windows Magazine, Home PC, and Computer Reseller News. Fred has also served as a columnist for the San Jose Mercury News and was the U.S. columnist for EYE-COM, one of Japan's leading computer magazines. Fred was a regular technology commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and used to co-host the radio call-in show "On Computers" with his pals John Dvorak, Gina Smith, and Leo LaPorte. Fred has also served as President of the Computer Institute a non-profit scientific and cultural foundation involved in education research, the study of human-computer ecology, and the establishment of the San Francisco Computer Museum, a major facility planned for downtown San Francisco. The San Francisco Computer Museum is also the producer of the CoMA Festival of Computer and Multimedia Arts. Fred has authored over a dozen computer books, including The Complete IBM Personal Computer -- the first hardware expansion guide to the IBM PC published in the early 1980's. His 1985 book, Desktop Publishing, helped popularize the term and received an award from the Computer Press Association. The New York Times hailed Fred's Windows 3.1 Bible as "the best" book on the topic. Fred also developed the Windows Bible CD-ROM, released in early 1994. The Windows 95 Bible was released in April of 1996, and his Windows 98 Bible (with co-author Kip Crosby) was published in April 1998. In a different area, he is working on a book, A Dictionary of Plant Names, to be published by Stanford University Press. Fred has been named one of the most influential people in the industry by several publications in both the U. S. and Japan, and is listed in Who's Who in America. Fred has been widely quoted in publications such as Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and the Atlantic Monthly, and has appeared on many radio and television programs, including NPR's "All Things Considered," "CBS Evening News," and "ABC News." From 1998-2001 Fred was CEO of Lumeria, a pioneering Internet security, privacy, and infomediary company. More recently, Fred founded Prosumer Media, which publishes dig_iT magazine. Fred also serves on the Boards of the Computer Institute, Sports Business Simulations, and the Entrepreneurs' Resource Network.