Instant Messaging and Mobility
Wednesday, January 4, 2006, 3:30pm - 4:15pm
People who are under 28 years of age have probably grown up using Instant Messaging as a basic form of communication. Now the question is: what will their expectation be for reaching people in the future? Is Presence representing a new form of awareness that makes incidental content more ongoing? What’s the impact on communications?
Jeff Bonforte, Director of Voice Product Management, Yahoo!
Jeff Bonforte is the Sr. Director of Voice Product Management at Yahoo! Inc. Bonforte oversees the product and business operations for Yahoo!’s leading consumer voice initiatives as the company continues to enhance and extend its voice services as a core component of Yahoo! Messenger.
Prior to joining Yahoo!, Bonforte was President of SIPphone, Inc., a leading VoIP startup, where he championed the development and launch of the Gizmo Project, a free internet telephone. He was Senior Vice President for Larry Ellison’s New Internet Computer (NIC), where he managed all business development and marketing for the startup. Bonforte is also the former CEO and founder of online storage pioneer, i-drive.com. Bonforte holds a BA from University California, Los Angeles.
Anupam Gupta, Director of Product Management for Messenger Live, Microsoft
Anupam Gupta is responsible for business planning, product strategy and growth initiatives for Microsoft® Windows Live™ Voice and Video services. Before taking up his current role, Gupta was Director of Product Management for MSN Messenger and MSN Spaces, and has also driven many other product and business initiatives for MSN over the last six years. He joined Microsoft in June 1998 as a Marketing Manager in the Home and Retail Division. Before joining Microsoft, Gupta did product management internships at Sun Microsystems Inc. and Lucent Technologies. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Cornell University and a Bachelor’s of Engineering in Computer Science from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, India.
Alec Saunders, CEO, Iotum
Alec Saunders is a visionary technology evangelist with 15 years of leadership in technology marketing and product management. During nine years at Microsoft Corporation Alec launched Internet Explorer, and the Microsoft Plus! Windows companion. As Microsoft’s Director of Marketing for Home Networks, Alec also launched Universal Plug and Play and recruited more than 300 vendors to the UPnP industry working group. Before Iotum, Alec was Marketing VP for Versatel Networks, the developer of intelligent, easy-to-operate media gateways, and voice applications. Alec was also Marketing VP at QNX Software Systems where he spearheaded the creation and launch of the critically acclaimed QNX Momentics development suite. Alec is a graduate of the University of Waterloo Mathematics Faculty.
