Meet Mark Thomas from the Connect team

Ovi People Interview no. 9, here we go! This week I interviewed Mark Thomas from our Connect team and I found out, among other things, that he has the coolest hobby: Robo Games! Thanks once again to everyone who submitted their questions (via Twitter as well!), you can find ...

Ovi People Interview no. 9, here we go! This week I interviewed Mark Thomas from our Connect team and I found out, among other things, that he has the coolest hobby: Robo Games! Thanks once again to everyone who submitted their questions (via Twitter as well!), you can find your questions answered at the end of the post!

What do you do here at Nokia?

I lead the product marketing team in our “Connect” business group that’s responsible for mobile messaging and social networking. This includes, for example, marketing activities for Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat. I’m located in the Silicon Valley office in Mountain View.

How long have you been working here and what other projects have you been working on at Nokia?

Just about 5 years now. Pretty much since I joined I’ve been working on Messaging and making sure people have access to their mobile email from their Nokia devices.

What did you do before you joined Nokia (work + education)?

I’m from California originally. I studied economics and software development in UC Berkley and have an MBA from Wharton. After Wharton, I joined Apple. I worked there for a number of years and helped establish a developer ecosystem there. Then, being in Silicon Valley, I joined a start-up company during the dot com as the first marketing person. We were eventually acquired by Commerce One.

So you worked with Apple before. You know I can’t just let that go, right?

Yeah, I figured.

So what’s it like to work for Nokia after Apple?

The working culture of Nokia is completely different. It’s hard work here but there is the possibility of a more sustainable work-life-balance here, and I think people who come here appreciate that a lot. We’ve been able to recruit people from Apple who are tired and frustrated by the Apple culture.

Is there anything specific you like about working at Nokia?

Nokia has a very ‘helpful’ culture that’s driven by consensus, which I really like. Every company has some degree of politics but at Nokia I feel it’s truly barely perceptible. Here you really get the feeling people are focusing on doing their best and helping others out where they can. I also really appreciate how extensively Nokia invests in their employees. In my 5 years at Nokia I’ve had considerable experience with organized leadership training that has made me a better employee and manager. I’ve had more opportunities to do that in my 5 years at Nokia than I’ve had during the rest of my career. I’ve been very successful in recruiting people from my networks who want to come to a company where they can make a difference and where they don’t have to, you know, never see their family. Although, being in California, so far away from Finland, we do have some early-morning calls

What word is the first word that comes to your mind when you think about Ovi?

Easy.

What’s your favorite thing you’ve downloaded from Store? Why?

So I downloaded Qik last week and loved it! Some friends and I built a combat robot and entered it the 60 pound category for the Robo Games competition. We were sponsored by Ovi so we had these cool Ovi stickers on it (Ovi-bot!). I live-broadcasted each of the battles from my E72, so my friends who were not able to cheer the ‘bot to victory, were able to watch it online. It was incredibly real-time and quick. Not only was I able to show my friends the matches over the 3-day tournament, but I was able to video blog using Qik. I walked around the set and backstage, interviewing people. Even my 80-something-year-old parents were able to get the full experience without ever having to leave their home. It was really exciting! It’s still up there so feel free to check out the Spamalot robot fan page on Facebook and check out the video feeds!

What was your very first Nokia device?

I had a 6120 and that was during the dot-com era. I was one of the first to get a Nokia back when everyone was still using Motorolas (ed.note: what fools! =) and it was beautiful, really elegant.

What devices do you use right now and what do you mainly do with them?

I primarily use E72, I like the fact that it’s optimized for business, and I use Mail for Exchange heavily. I also like carrying around a 5 megapixel camera in my pocket. I love that it’s very slim… just a gorgeous phone.

What were you looking for the last time you used Maps?

I was looking for direction to the robot competition!

What are your top five favorite blogs/websites?

I read Engadget quite a bit and I also read the New York Times. For my celebrity gossip I hit up TMZ. And while it’s not a blog, I do seem to be spending more and more time on Facebook.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Well, I haven’t had much spare time in the past couple of months because I was building this crazy attack robot, LOL! But otherwise I have a bit of a chef in me, so I like cooking for my wife and friends. I also have twin teenagers – we love to explore San Francisco or play Rock Band on the PS3.

What’s your motto?

I think I’ll have to lean towards the “work hard, play hard” philosophy. I expect a lot from myself and from my time, but at the same time we always try to celebrate milestones and victories together.

Then, to the reader questions! Suyog would like to ask you this: “In regard to the plans of making the Connect business powered by Yahoo!… Will it make the services more powerful? And what are the new improvements in services we can expect in Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat?”

Yes, the “powered by Yahoo!” will make our service even better. Our Ovi Mail web functionality will make tremendous strides forward in terms of standard web mail feature and functionality. And, we will get web chat integrated with the webmail experience. From the device side, Nokia will continue to develop and maintain the client so we can leverage our mobile expertise.

Also, Siraj is asking: “When can we see Ovi Chat in Ovi Mail? Also, any plans of making Presence-related features into Ovi Maps? Something like latitude or Nokia’s own – Nokia FriendView. Having more integration between Ovi Chat and Ovi Maps would be great.”

We are currently working with Yahoo! on a timeline of deliverables for Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat. There may be some interesting integration opportunities with Ovi Maps and Ovi Chat, however we need to address e.g. user privacy concers. 

Source : http://blog.ovi.com/2010/06/07/meet-mark-thomas-fr...