(2005-01-07)
HandHeld Entertainment today announced that Jeffrey D. Oscodar has been named president and chief executive officer (CEO) of HandHeld Entertainment. Oscodar replaces Nathan Schulhof who resigned as president and CEO for health reasons.
HandHeld Entertainment today announced that Jeffrey D. Oscodar has been named president and chief executive officer (CEO) of HandHeld Entertainment. Oscodar replaces Nathan Schulhof who resigned as president and CEO for health reasons.
Oscodar brings nearly 20 years of corporate technology and legal experience to HandHeld Entertainment and will lead the company in extending its ZVUE personal media player technology and content partnerships into consumer electronics markets worldwide.
"We are thrilled to have Jeff on board with us at HandHeld," said Carl Page, chief technical officer and co-founder of HandHeld Entertainment. "His experience creating consumer electronics products as well as the services that make them come alive will take the ZVUE and our media services into the homes of consumers throughout the world."
Previously, Oscodar co-founded InfoGear Technology, the market leader in Internet appliance services. InfoGear produced the first Web-enabled telephone and was sold to Cisco Systems in 2000 for more than $300 million. While at InfoGear, Oscodar not only licensed InfoGear's hardware reference platform to consumer electronics companies, but also established more than 100 content partnerships with companies like Amazon.com, eToys, Time.com, USA TODAY, Yahoo! and others. He also developed and launched an international affiliate program that brought InfoGear Networks' content to partners in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
"HandHeld Entertainment is on the cusp of taking portable entertainment to the world-at-large through the ZVUE personal media player," Oscodar said. "We already have great leaders and creative minds in place, and I look forward to taking HandHeld, the ZVUE and its digital media content into the future, particularly through partnerships with content providers."
In addition to Broadband magazine naming Oscodar one of the 100 most influential people in consumer electronics in 1997, Oscodar's experience in the legal world is a valuable tool for HandHeld Entertainment. He served in the Los Angeles District Attorney's office for several years in addition to representing the firm of Pircher, Nichols & Meeks, an innovator in applying technology to the practices of law. He has also worked with many technology firms, developing business plans, content agreements and fundraising methods to help make them successful. Most notably, he helped Raytheon turn defense industry technologies into valuable commercial operations.
In a separate announcement released today, HandHeld Entertainment announced that Nathan Schulhof has resigned as president and CEO of HandHeld Entertainment for health reasons, but will remain on the board of directors. The company also announced that Bill Keating, HandHeld's interim CEO, has relinquished those duties and has accepted the position of chairman of the board of directors for HandHeld Entertainment. Geoffrey Mulligan, former chairman, remains on the board of directors. Also, joining the HandHeld board is Carl Page, the company's chief technical officer.
About HandHeld Entertainment
Formed in February 2003, HandHeld Entertainment is a complete end-to-end solution provider in the portable digital media industry. The ZVUE personal media player allows users to access digital media on the go, including high-quality video content, music and digital photos. ZVUE users can download thousands of media titles and learn valuable technology trends via the HandHeld Web site. For more information, visit www.hheld.com, www.zvue.com, or call (415) 495-6470.
HandHeld, HandHeld Entertainment and ZVUE are each trademarks of HandHeld Entertainment, Inc.
Media Contacts:
Russell Page, Politis Communications, 801-523-3730(wk), 801-787-8435 (cell) or David Politis, Politis Communications, 801-523-3730(wk), 801-556-8184(cell)
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