Whom to Follow in the VoIP World
On Thursday, VoIP News continued its "Top" lists with Owen Linderholm's list of the VoIP-News Top 20 VoIP Influencers for 2007. Included on the list are many who have contributed to the success of Skype Journal in 2007:
Alec Saunders without whose Voice 2.0 Manifesto we would not have such an articulate definition of the business direction and justification for Skype Partner offerings in his description of "Applications as the value creators".
Thomas Howe, who probably understands mashups, their role and their potential and can articulate his thinking in a very lucid, informative way through his insightful blog posts. (And read Thomas' post about how learning about this recognition almost wiped out the entire Thomas Howe Company executive team.)
Stephane Marceau, CEO of Mobivox, whose team has figured out a way to access Skype contacts inexpensively from any phone worldwide.
Craig Walker, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Fall VON and learning why Grand Central has had success through leadership.
James Body, who has had a major role in bringing to life Truphone, without which there would be fewer ways to make high quality, low cost voice calls from any WiFi access point (and 3G network where one is available). Now if they could just figure out how to make it work from a Blackberry.
Andy Abramson: Alec Saunders calls him The Kingmaker for his active role as not only a public relations professional but also advisor to many of the companies that have had proven success over the past few years, such as Grand Central and Unyte. Andy's VoIP Watch is a "must read" not only for industry trends and developments but also for his experience and insight into building relationships in a way that makes winners of all parties in the business. Without Andy's support and his unique blogger relations program Skype Journal's stories would not be as rich or informative.
And, last, but by no means least, Paul Amery -- as a proxy "for all the creative technical people at Skype who are continuing to drive the adoption and use of Skype by third party developers". We all know that Paul got caught up in a recent restructuring process at Skype but this recognition serves him well as he works out the next stage in his career.
Tags: VoIP-News, Alec Saunders, Thomas Howe, Stephane Marceau, Mobivox, Craig Walker, Grand Central, James Body, Truphone, Andy Abramson, Paul Amery, Skype, Skype Developer Program
