25 Most Powerful People in Wireless

Looks like a really US-centric view on the wireless world. I guess we'll have to wait until FierceWirless Europe compiles a list before we get down to the real power brokers in wireless!

Yeah, what were they thinking? Those wielding the power of the GSM standard from the 90's are clearly the ones to watch this year.

OK, but seriously - don't you think you should wait until they at least get the bottom 1/2 of the Top 25 posted before getting judgmental?

Power also comes from those who disrupt the incumbent. I am interested to see if Fierce lists any of the new players who are yielding such power of disruption ... Value Chains are breaking part and new players will rise. Enter the new power brokers.

In no particular order, Steve Jobs Apple, Ben Wolfe CLWR, China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou,Craig McCaw, Paul Jacobs Qualcomm, Brian Roberts Comcast, Mukund Govind Rajan Tata Teleservices, Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T, T-Mobile International CEO Hamid Akhavan, Open Range Communications CEO William S. Beans, Cisco's John Chambers, Samsung's Yoon-Woo Lee, Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. Intel, Motorola, Nortel cannot move or shake

Best Buy? Myspace? Nothing to do with Wireless!!
Lucent is almost bankruptcy.....

See another 20 listings at:
uscwc.org/whoswho/

JW MONDAK III SHOULD BE ON THE LIST!

I'm not on the list either! ;-)

by that same logic, parts of that list don't have something to do with "wireless." I'd have to disagree and say that Myspace, prob important as social networking is just blowing up all over the place IN wireless

I expected a more insightful list from Fierce. A couple examples of my disappointment:
- Brad Anderson? While I agree that BestBuy is doing big things in mobile, it's lame to list the CEO as one of the most powerful people in wireless. How about the person leading the wireless efforts for them?
- Dan Schulman? Really? The IPO has been a flop. MVNOs are dead. Their getting more senior citizens than youth. Employees are leaving Virgin left and right.
- Lucent? Do I really even need to make a comment on this. Your list is 5 years out of date.

I expected more insight from Fierce.

I guess Europe should be a part of things, but the GSM standard is dyinhg a slow death soon, with the advent of 4G. The GSMA is demanding such strong royalties for GSM SIMS and its roaming power is strong, but it is ridiculous to say that Europe is the leader today. China Mobile as someone mentioned is huge, but what is their ARPU. Korea really should be mentioned. Qualcomm and others that set the standards should be mentioned high, but just becuase you are a CEO and evolved into that position, does not make you a market player, someone that has the power. The creators like RIM, Steve Jobs with Apple who actually create new innovative ideas are the real power brokers. ATT who led the charge with the Apple device in the states also should be mentioned. Verizon and their rudderless ship with their CEO and Vodaphone match should hopefully not be mentioned. New visions for the future with leaders like those in the Middle East like Etisalat and STC should also get mention. People who fight for service revenue, rather than have it given to them should be mentioned. Companies like those in India and Pakistan who have teriffic penetration with the world's lowest ARPU's who have to find ways to grow their markets without tremendous sub revenue should be mentioned. The European mobile scene is easily the easiest to operate in, so pleaseeeeeeeeeee, look at who really makes strong tough and hard decisions that make a difference, rather than thouse that just have a huge balance sheet and can pump endless CAPEX into operations. Europe is so passe.

My god there are some uninformed people posting comments here. "GSM standard is dyinhg a slow death soon" and "Those wielding the power of the GSM standard from the 90's". Stunningly out of touch. Fact is the "GSM standard" has not been touched for a long time. The GSM standards body has though - this group has been called 3GPP for a long long time and is at the absolute forefront of wireless technologies that far far far outstrip anything else on the planet. That is where the real stuff is coming from.

Tiffany E. Schroer at AT&T deserves to be on the list.

Here is the thing, you have the head of TMO USA and you do not list the CEO of the entire group? I am seriously laughing at that one. So the CEO of the group is not more powerful in wireless than the guy that runs a division of it?

Then there are the other clangers:

Brad Anderson? Are you guys serious? Amazon sell more handsets than Best Buy.

Where are the representatives from: Telefonica? American Moville? Fox/Jamba?

The list could go on and on. I just do not think that this list has been thought through at all. The list comes across as though it was compiled by someone from outside the business.

Kevin Holley: the man who invented text messaging. This changed the world but no-one ever recognises that.

I'd believe that top 5 would go to overseas carriers' CEO/Chief, i.e. China Mobile, VF, NTT, Telefonica.... To me, it's almost the same as who is who in wireless domain.

#1 Viviane Reding
#2 Robert Redford

I guess you guys haven't really been watching the mobile industry as closely as I and Sue have. Sue's lists mirrors mine and most analysts who've noticed the American shift in wireless power. Europe had been leading, but only because of economic and bureaucratic messes created by the incumbent US President. Change and growth have taken the wind and replaced it back into the US's sails.

America is in the process of deploying a free wireless broadband network! They're adopting new technologies, and launching others. It is the US that's responsible for all of the major growth in wireless tech lately. That readers write them off shows how out of touch Europe is becoming, much like the US had become over the last 4 years. US invented wireless calls, run most of the content channels for mobiles, and have created the very devices that have grown the business.

For instance, Best Buy, America's biggest big box electronics retailer, is launching a mobile store concept with the UK's Car Warehouse. They've become the best pace to buy unlocked phones in America overnight. They're educating the public about unlocked devices and smartphones. They've given Nokia the greatest chance to finally make inroads in this tough US market. Best Buy will see massive growth because of their mobile phone sales strategy, and it'll be the first place to go to buy a device soon. Watch and see.

MySpace is the biggest social network out there. People are accessing it via mobile more than ever before. Every smartphone wants a Facebook app and a MySpace app, and the best one could mean millions of extra customers. Not to mention MySpace's alliance with big music. The combination of music and social networks make it more powerful than even Apple in wireless music distribution! Knowing the business of the nominee can expose the rationale for making the list.

Virgin is bringing 3G to the low income user. Enough said. Like Sprint, they lose money today, but are recovering with game changing strategy unseen before.

T-MobileUSA's CEO definitely deserves notice. He runs the top rated provider in America, launched the first Android phone before its German parent. He's helping save Sony Ericsson. He's igniting price pressure and device education here users never wanted or thought they'd need before.

Omar Hamoui, CEO and Founder of AdMob.

What about Carlos Slim? He controls Teléfonos de México (Telmex), Telcel and América Móvil companies. He is the second richest man in the world with a net worth of around U.S. $60 billion through his holdings.

Most powerful people... in the US only ?

I guess your Top 25 only applies to the US... how about the bosses of small companies like China Mobile, Vodafone, Orange, NTT DoCoMo (which together combined represent close to a billion subscribers)

Is the command of 1 billion subscribers (and associated network infrastructure) not enough of an influence leverage towards the wireless industry as a whole?

Who gives a crap who they are?

Yes, FierceWireless is a U.S.-centric publication. Our readership is primarily in the U.S. and we cover the U.S. wireless industry. If you want European wireless news, then I suggestion you read FierceWireless:Europe. wwwfiercewireless.com/europe-- sue

How about Christina Domecq from SpinVox?? She 31 years old, raised over US$100M and is driving the voice to text market on the mobile phone.

If you are going to create a list of the 25 Most Powerful people in Wireless then you should create a Global List. Your list should be titled the 25 Most Powerful People in US Wireless

Wireless is more than the mobile phone. 802.11x? What happened to Intel here?

How about:
Dadi Perlmutter
Executive Vice President
General Manager, Mobility Group
INTEL CORPORATION

Sean Maloney, EVP of Intel is No. 19.

It's really disappointing to not see a single woman in the Top 25 list. Without some of the women leaders, the industry wouldn't have made some of the advances it has, yet the credit goes all to the men.

Improve the title. Make it '25 Most Powerful People in the US Wireless Business'.

Where in the heck is Craig McCaw on this list? Barry West is just Craig's right hand man. For the record, McCaw has a 51% controlling interest in Clearwire. He can do whatever he wants with that company at any time.

lol Steve Job's is number one?

He hasn't even got 5 million handsets sold in the US, for the love of god HTC have sold more handsets.

Hands down the worst article I have ever read on Fierce wireless.

Why can't you just say "Top 25 US eerr kind of mobile, but not really......people"?

It would have been far more accurate lol.

#1 is the Consumer (pays the bills and decides if to buy an iPhone)

Also, if we think customer base, we should ask why we don't see NTT and China Mobile on the list?

How could the CEO of Alcatel Lucent possibly make this list and the CEO of Ericsson not? Apart from the fact that the Verwaayen has been in the job 5 minutes, Alcatel Lucent are nowhere - repeat nowhere - in the stakes of mobile infrastructure vendors. AT least Ericsson could claim to have provided nearly half the world’s mobile infrastructure. I guess they're in the US though!

You should add Tyler van Houwelingen, President of Azulstar in Grand Haven, Michigan. He put the first US Wi-Fi system in place in his home town and has now launched WiMAX in Grand Rapids, MI, Albequrque, NX, and getting going in Indy and Las Vegas. Small but powerful

Not one woman, what a shame!

I appreciate Sue's comments that FierceWireless is a U.S.-centric publication and covers the U.S. wireless industry but, to reiterate other comments, really this list should be called 25 Most Powerful People in US Wireless.

No China Mobile chief exec? (The world's largest op by subs).
No Vodafone? (world's largest op by revenue)
And to say that the chief exec of T-Mobile USA is more powerful than Hamid Akhavan, CEO of the entire T-Mobile global operation, is very odd.

And then DoCoMo (world's most technologically advanced op)...

Come on folks there's life outside the US.

Still, these lists are designed to create debate and this has certainly done that.

I think some people are getting most powerful- which pretains to the now vs. heroes of wireless/movers&shakers - like Tyler van Houwelingen who should be commended for his achievements in wireless but it does not make him one the most POWERFUL. Verwaayen may be in the position five minutes and may not have acomplished as much but he is in a position that can sway the market more so than others.

What a ridiculous list! The American readership of Fierce Wireless deserves better than this. Or does it?

The US is not the whole world, in fact it is still a laggard as far as mobility is concerned. Do your really still think that wireless business is local? If America does not realise that it is a big world out there, you are going to be in trouble.

There is no point in compiling county-specific lists, unless you are unfamiliar with the 95% of the world that is not the USA.

Yeah, very US centric list with a couple of perplexing inclusions... Motorola? Alcatel? MVNO? Retail oultet? Regional head over Global head? And yes, Kallasvuo said that the US is going to take the lead in innovation and services... but that's just a small part of the industry. Nothing would exist without the handset manufacturers and the network architectures. Where's the strong US presence there?

Strange to back up the statement: "It is the US that's responsible for all of the major growth in wireless tech lately" and use a retail outlet as an example of this... HSPA is not a US invention, and only one American operator is really adopting it. T-Mobile is simply following its global push on this, you can hardly attribute the US CEO with that strategy! All the best handsets and network infrastructure is still non US. China and Japan are really where's it at when it comes to serious innovation in the wireless world.

Nokia and Ericsson have nothing to do in this 100% US centric list and should be removed.

The last time there was a list of the Telecom giants and most of them are now serving time in jail. Remember WorldCom.

Where is Craig McCaw for goodness sakes. That guy practically invented this industry and is still making deals happen today.

Please respond to the feedback that the title of the list should be changed to "25 Most Powerful People in US Wireless."

Hey... about Ed Zander? He destroyed a great franchise (Motorola), and paved the way for Samsung, LG, and others to rise.

what a myopic view of the world! Suprised McDonald's and Coca Cola is not on the list.

You missed the CEO of Leap/Cricket S. Douglas (“Doug”) Hutcheson, and the executive leadership team!!!!...they are on a roll with their disruptive business model...

Robert Dotson Will be gone by Spring. He continues lead T-Mobile down paths of distruction. Sure he did the Android phone, but his follow-up is pathetic. DT will not tolerate his loss of market share much longer; they will send one of their german leaders to take the helm any time now.

Hmmm, this is too U.S. centric, what about the CEO's of America Movil and Telefonica they control pretty much all Latin American markets.

Nice responses everyone... Reminds of David Letterman's Top 10 List hehe