Charles Hall
Type of Fellow: Research Fellow
Description: Three years at LSU studying English and philosophy. 25 years in sales and marketing at what is now Lanier International - products from dictation equipment (remember those) to background music to word processing gear to PCs.
I started as a territory sale rep in New Orleans and ended up running the European operations, working out of Frankfurt, Germany. I was VP of marketing when Lanier company went nationwide and grew from 80 to over 200 branches.
I established and ran the highly successful word processing operation. When Harris Corp. bought Lanier, I left and went to work as VP of Sales and Marketing at Businessland.
I then returmed to Europe (London) and set up a company that took PC software from the States and converted it to European languages and standards, then marketed the products throughout Europe.
After selling the company I moved to New York and started in the the newsletter business. I've been the senior analyst for The Online Reporter since 2001. We've tracked every step of the digital media industry's growth.
Predictions included the acceptance of Wi-Fi as the home networking standard and the popularity of DVRs. Currently we are predicting and studying the impact of: - Every home in first world countries having a broadband connection - The battle between DVRs and PCs for dominance as the home's media center -
The coming war over service bundles that will force the restructuring of the phone (home and residential), cable TV and satellite TV industries. - The transition of Internet-delivered entertainment from amateurish Youtube stuff to professionally produced content for the Net.