Top Mobile Moguls

Alex Young

With a career background that includes Telstra, Nokia and Singapore’s Starhub, Young was born mobile. He began working with the mobile internet way back in 2000 when Nokia released its first phone featuring wireless application protocol (WAP), and went on to found Mostyle in 2004.

While Young has spent much of his life creating developing innovative mobile community and entertainment services, his current business hands that capability back to the general public, allowing anyone to publish their own mobile website outside the portals of the carriers. It has already attracted significant interest in south east Asia.

“We see much of the success of Mostyle coming to bear in the global realisation that the off-portal mobile internet space is much like the web reborn; a time for new tools, new communities and a new eco-system.”

Jennifer Wilson

As managing director of HWW, Wilson was a pioneer in the development of mobile content in Australia, creating the yourTime series of mobile information sites. HWW was acquired by ninemsn in December 2005, and Wilson moved on to a role as head of innovation.

Earlier this year she left to set up her own business, Lean Forward, which provides consulting services around creating engaging consumer experiences both on mobile and online. “Things like the iPhone are game-changing, not because of what the device is, but because it opens up our mind to the possibilities of what this could become,” Wilson says.

“We are getting more ‘connected’ – and connection is going to extend to every device so we are going to need to rethink our ideas of ‘internet’ – which will become synonymous with ‘connected’; and ‘mobile’ – which even now, doesn’t just mean phone.”

Paz Saavedra

News Digital Media’s mobile product manager is described by her peers as a leading innovative thinker, and has been responsible for the strategic direction of mobile services across brands including carguide.com and News.com.au, which claims to be Australia’s first customisable mobile site. She also oversaw development of News’s first three sites customised for the iPhone.

Chris Noone

Noone got his start in mobile in 2001 when he worked for Vizzavi, a joint venture of Vivendi and Vodafone that was the forerunner of Vodafone’s Live service. He then established Vodafone’s mobile games and content business across Europe, before returning to Australia to establish the mobile group at ninemsn in 2006 where he launched and grew its mobile advertising business to take a 17% market share. Noone is also founder of the “You Can on a Mobile” consumer education campaign, and is now working as an independent consultant.

Che Metcalfe and Karyn Lanthois

A driving force within Adelaide’s digital media community and president of the South Australian chapter of the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA), Metcalfe co-founded Kukan Studio with Lanthois as a specialist developer of games and other content for mobile phones.

Metcalfe’s new venture, Podmo Mobile, is seeking to build out entirely new city-wide mobile phone infrastructure using Bluetooth wireless technology, effectively bypassing traditional carriers when it comes to distributing digital content. He is currently exploring opportunities for Podmo in international markets.

Luke Janssen and Oliver Palmer

Janssen and Palmer founded TigerSpike in 2003, and since then have been blazing a trail for integrated mobile marketing campaigns. In February TigerSpike set up an innovation lab to further push the envelope of what’s possible. “The innovation lab that we have set up makes sure that we not only know what is coming up, but we have made a call on whether we think it is important and our tech guys have played around with it,” Janssen says. The company now has offices in Auckland, New York and London.