60 Seconds with Peggy Johnson

Twenty four years after she started at the company as a software engineer, Peggy Johnson is Executive Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and President of global market development where she is responsible for commercialising new business opportunities and developing strategic relationships for the company. Notably, she oversees Qualcomm Labs, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. that serves as an incubator focused on launching new businesses and products, as well as exploring new market segments for Qualcomm technologies. She is speaking in the session "The Next Wave of Technology on Thursday 12 September at 17.00 in the Forum.

Q: What do you see as being the major changes the industry is currently facing? Is it about the way that content is made, the way it is being consumed, or even the way it is being distributed?

A: We've already evolved how content is made by transcoding and formatting video content for today's user's smaller screens and shorter attention spans. The biggest challenge now is how content is distributed. Broadcast is a far more efficient way to stream realtime content than today's unicast mobile networks for example, when sending content to two people sitting next to each other watching the same thing in real time, the unicast network requires a cell site to send content twice.

Q: You are speaking in the session titled The Next Wave of Technology'. What do you think is in the wave and will traditional broadcast be not waving but drowning' when it hits?

A: In today's world, the mobile experience is a big part of consumer's content consumption behaviour. Consumers want to have their content with them anytime, anywhere so, focusing on the mobile experience can help the industry tap into this new wave of content consumption.

Q: Where is the drive for innovation coming from at the moment? Broadcasters? Vendors? Service providers? Or is it coming from another direction entirely such as the customer?

A: The drive for innovation is clearly coming from consumer expectations to have their content with them at any time, in any format. Consumers love TV and more and more frequently are consuming content on the most convenient screen available. Often, the most convenient screen is the mobile screen. The challenge is upon the technology providers to enable content providers to deliver the excellent experience users want.

Q: You played an important role in the adoption of 3G services. What are your hopes for 4G? Will it be as significant a development for mobile providers as it is being painted?

A: 4G is here today and paying off on its promise, which is one of the key reasons people are able to consume video on their mobile devices. It might not be in every market worldwide, but it is certainly deployed and pervasive in major metro areas in all of the US and Europe. LTE Broadcast leverages the existing LTE spectrum and is designed to be implemented within the cellular infrastructure to deliver on untapped consumer demand for long forms of content.

Q: What do you see as the barriers to its adoption and its take-up?

A: Especially in developing countries, where disposable income is low, consumers are more challenged in justifying higher costs, so we see this as a barrier. But we've also seen that geographies move up technology curves when the value placed upon the experience associated with adopting a new technology outweighs the investment cost.

Q: Is the move towards video on mobile going to be truly global and enfold the developing world as well?

A: Yes, much like how basic TV went global. We believe the inherent love of TV will lead people to consume more video on their phone or tablet, if it's available and affordable.

Q: It looks from here like we have an almighty battle developing for spectrum between broadcasters and mobile as content delivery into the home switches to IP. Is that a fair summation?

A: There's no question there is a general trend toward delivering video content via IP, and spectrum comes into the equation when content is sent wirelessly. Who eventually delivers these services and under what terms is really beyond our predictions but whatever the outcome we want to help enable the most efficient use of the underlying spectrum.

Q: If you had to list one technology that you think will be most disruptive over the course of the next decade, which one would it be and why?

A: Several industry developments are at play that will make LTE a disruptive force for years to come, particularly in broadcast. First, the installed base of smartphones and tablets is growing exponentially, and the key to accessing these devices is to use standard IP technologies. LTE Broadcast is designed to be implemented within the cellular infrastructure and provides the cost, scalability and efficiency benefits that allow broadcasters to reach larger audiences than ever before.

Q: How do you see the discussion about the future of broadcast shaping up at IBC2013?

A: I certainly expect video consumption on mobile devices over cellular networks to be a major discussion point! I also think some debate will focus on how, exactly, do we deliver what the consumer expects from their video content....access anytime, anywhere, on any screen.

Q: Finally, fast forward us ten years into the future. How will we be consuming our media and who will be profiting from it?

A: I think more disruptive than a single technology will be a number of mobile technologies advancing to the point of giving people a digital sixth sense That ever-growing number of smart, connected devices working together to provide people with timely, personalised content and seamless interaction with our environment, allowing us to spend less time managing and more time living.

LINK:	http://www.ibc.org/page.cfm/action=library/libID=2/libEntryID=211/list...
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