Much like D, D: Dive Into Mobile featured a gathering of key industry thought leaders whose influence is driving innovation in the mobile space. Listed below is the D: Dive Into Mobile’s speaker list.
Joe Belfiore
Corporate Vice President, Windows Phone Program Management & Design
Microsoft
As the key exec for Microsoft's Windows Phone Program, Joe Belfiore focuses on usability and overall experience of Microsoft's mobile technology products. Belfiore now faces the daunting challenge of establishing the Windows Phone 7 and future iterations as a leader in a very crowded mobile space. It is a huge come-from-way-way-behind challenge for Microsoft. Before moving to the Windows Phone team, the 20-year-old company veteran–who came to Microsoft fresh out of Stanford University–has been in charge of the Zune Software and Services, as well as the "eHome" Division of Windows.
Dennis Crowley
CEO and Co-founder
Foursquare
The impact of the geo-location on mobile is undeniable, and Dennis Crowley has been at the forefront of the trend at foursquare and, before that, at Dodgeball, which was acquired by Google in 2005. But–since the plains are covered with the bodies of pioneers–will Crowley's check-in and mayoral empire prevail over incursions from competitors, most especially social networking giant Facebook? And, as it evolves, can he turn the start-up from a game into a real money- making business? Crowley holds a master's degree from New York University's Interactive Telecomm- unications Program and a bachelor's degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
Daniel Ek
Co-Founder and CEO
Spotify
A serial entrepreneur and technologist who started his first company at the age of 14, the Spotify co-founder’s love of music -- the guitar in particular -- led him to innovate in the entertainment and fashion community (Stardoll) to the buying and selling of unique items (Tradera, acquired by eBay) to advertising (Tradera, snatched up by TradeDoubler). Also: Challenge him to a game of FIFA championship soccer at your peril.
Dan Hesse
President & CEO
Sprint Nextel
At Sprint Nextel, Dan Hesse leads a carrier locked in an ongoing battle with the tech industry. Today, the device has become king and in an effort to recapture some network dominance, Hesse and his team have migrated towards a more open strategy. We'll ask what that means and question Hesse about 4G's ability to deliver upon its promise. Prior to his appointment as SprintCEO, Hesse was the Chairman and CEO of Embarq Corporation, and also served as the top exec of Terabeam Corporation. Before that, he spent 23 years at AT&T, including as president and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services. Hesse got masters degrees from both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in science and in business from Cornell University, as well as an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Mike Lazaridis
Co-CEO
RIM
Mike Lazaridis is one of the key executives affiliated with the rise of the famed BlackBerry. While BlackBerry has become a staple of corporate communications, the past few years have been hard on Research In Motion, which has been slow to compete with more full-featured smartphone devices, especially Apple's iPhone and Android from Google. We'll ask him what happened and look forward to the future evolution of BlackBerry, as well as RIM's foray into the tablet game with its PlayBook, and how he will stop an eroding market share for the company. Mr. Lazaridis holds honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Waterloo in engineering, McMaster University, University of Windsor and Université Laval. He has been awarded Canada's most prestigious innovation prize: The Ernest C. Manning Principal Award.
Glenn Lurie
President of Emerging Devices
AT&T
As the head of AT&T's Emerging Devices team, Glenn Lurie is the man who negotiated exclusive deals for both the Apple iPhone, and most recently, the iPad. But, despite AT&T's ability to grow its arsenal of product offerings, consumers have complained loudly about frequent lapses in the telecom giant's network and its difficulty in supporting the increased traffic. How AT&T will fix this and what it will do if (when?) Apple moves to another carrier next year are obviously a key topic, as well as what will happen as even more new devices create a looming saturation point for the wireless industry. Prior to entering the wireless industry, Lurie was a professional soccer player for teams representing Cleveland, Atlanta, Milwaukee and Portland. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Marketing from Seattle Pacific University.
Mike McCue
CEO
Flipboard
There is no question that Flipboard made a big splash when it debuted, with a hand- some and slick interface for consuming social media on the Apple iPad, created by one of Silicon Valley's most reliable entrepreneurs. While we'll ask McCue the story behind Flipboard's meteoric rise, he now must answer questions about the start-up's scalability and approach to outperforming the growing competition. Previously, he founded Tellme Networks in 1999, and then joined Microsoft as the General Manager of the Tellme subsidiary. Before that, McCue worked at Netscape as Vice President of Technoloy. He joined the famed browser company after its acquisition of the first company he founded, Paper Software, a leader in 3-D browser technology.
Andy Rubin
SVP, Mobile & Digital Content
Google
Andy Rubin is responsible for Google’s mobile and digital content businesses, including development of Android and Google Play. Prior to joining Google, he was founder and CEO of Android, a company he incubated as an entrepreneur in residence at Redpoint Ventures. Android was acquired by Google in 2005.
Previously, Rubin was president and CEO of Danger Inc., where he helped create the Sidekick, one of the first mobile devices to offer a direct Internet experience. Earlier, he was instrumental in building and shipping WebTV, the first interactive television-based Internet service, which was acquired by Microsoft in 1995. He also led the effort to ship the Motorola Envoy, one of the first wireless PDAs for General Magic, and helped design the
first host-based software modem for Apple Computer.
He began his career as a software engineer for Carl Zeiss A.G., maker of industrial and consumer optical products, and is the author of numerous patents in wireless communications.
Jon Rubinstein
Senior Vice President for Product Innovation
Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard
Jon Rubinstein has had a long history in the mobile market, both up and down. At Apple, he worked on the introduction of the iconic iPod. After he left, Rubinstein tried to compete with his former employer in creating the Palm and its webOS oper- ating system. That did not turn out so well, but with its new home inside Hewlett-Packard, Rubsinstein has another chance to prove himself. Will it work? As head of the Palm global business unit, Rubinstein was leading HP's efforts in the mobility space, responsible for webOS software development and related hardware products. Before joining Apple, Rubinstein worked at HP and NeXT, and found- ed his own company, Firepower Systems. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell University and a master's degree in computer science from Colorado State University.
Susan Wojcicki
SVP, Advertising, Google
Longtime Googler Wojcicki was the search giant’s first marketing manager. In addition, she led the initial development of several key successful consumer products including Google Images, Google Books and Google Video. Now a veep, Wojcicki is responsible for the design, innovation and engineering of all of Google’s advertising and measurement platform products, including AdWords, AdSense, DoubleClick and Google Analytics.