Welcome to our inaugural special report on Mobile Movers and Shakers for 2008. In this report, RCR Wireless News recognizes just some of the people who have been or hope to be instrumental in shaping the industry, leading it into new areas and creating for it fresh opportunities.
We’ve been doling out the list over the past few days, but today we’ve included all 20 selections.
This list is by no means exhaustive, either in terms of nominees or categories. It leaves out many worthy candidates, a point that we want to acknowledge upfront. In fact, we received more than 400 nominations from readers.
It also isn’t a list of “winners.” Some of the companies represented herein have yet to experience financial or critical success.
Indeed, this list is just a starting point – for us and, we hope, for you. So please enjoy our first attempt at assembling a linear list out of this messy, chaotic and topsy-turvy industry, even as we begin to take a closer look at some of the people who likely will be next year’s movers and shakers. – Tracy Ford, Editor and Associate Publisher
Dale Sohn, president, Samsung Tele-communications America
Paul Jacobs, CEO, Qualcomm Inc.
Mike Lazaridis,left, and Jim Balsillie, Research In Motion Ltd., co-CEOs.
Andy Rubin, head of Google’s Android efforts
Gigi Sohn, a founder of Public Knowledge
Evan Williams, CEO Twitter
Michael Chang, CEO and Co-Founder, Greystripe
Nihal Mehta, CEO and co-founder of buzzd
Daren Tsui, CEO and co-founder, mSpot Inc.
Jeff Sellinger, EVP and GM, CBS Mobile
Charlie Martin, CTO,
Huawei Technologies Inc.
Jim Nelson and Dennis Specht,
co-founders of Roundbox Inc.
Omar Hamoui,
CEO and Founder, AdMob
Sean Cai, Deputy General Manager
of the ZTE WiMax product line
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.)
Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel
Frank O’Mara, chief marketing officer at Alltel
F.J. Pollak, president of
TracFone Wireless Inc.
Shawn Score, President
of Best Buy Mobile
Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG