We are on the cusp of a new wave of media convergence. Today, independent television producers are finding themselves competing with software engineers who code mobile apps, casual games and virtual worlds, and target consumers directly.
Not everyone believes these partnerships makes sense. “There is panic convergence and natural convergence,” says Gary Schwartz, president and chief executive of Impact Mobile. In the panic model, an old-world company, thinking it has to merge or do some serious M&A deals to survive, won’t work because [the idea] is contrived. “You can’t say, ‘I’m an entertainment guy and I make good stuff so if I get my good stuff on a different platform I’ll be a success,’ ” he says.
Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/transition/3338766/story.html#ixzz0wKPmgfhZ
About Gary Schwartz
Over the past ten years, Gary Schwartz has played a leadership role in the mobile industry. Gary is the CEO of Impact Mobile, Inc., Chair of MEF North America and is the author of "THE IMPULSE ECONOMY" published by Published by Simon & Schuster, Aria Imprint.
Twitter @impulseeconomy
In 2002, Gary ran the first cross-carrier short code campaign in North America. In 2006, Gary founded the mobile committee for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net) and has worked to publish literature such as the Mobile Buyer's Guide helping extend the digital buy into mobile (for which he received an IAB award for industry excellence in 2009).
Additionally, in 2007, Gary started work to help establish a joint task force between the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and the IAB with the aid of the Media Rating Council (MRC) to develop global, auditable mobile measurement standards.
In 2010, Gary was elected as the Chair of MEF North America (www.m-e-f.org) with a remit to develop a mobile commerce practice to service brands, retailers and content owners (for which he received a MEF award for industry excellence). In 2011, in partnership with MEF and a number of industry groups including the X9 security standards body, Gary is working to develop m-commerce security and privacy guidelines.
Gary is the recipient of the Macromedia People Choice Award as well as the Dodge Foundation award for innovation. Gary is an Asia and Japan Foundation Fellow.
