We have a special treat for all the Creative fans out there. We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Creative Vice President Phil O'Shaughnessy. We, or should I say
ramakandra, asked him 20 questions, some serious and others not so much. Among other things, we get to find out more about Phil's background, what he thinks about Creative founder Sim Wong Hoo, and his take on the Creative ZEN SD card integration issue. So without further ado I present our exclusive interview with Mr. O'Shaughnessy (with rama's famous ellipsis style intact)
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20 Questions with Creative VP, Phil O'Shaughnessy1...What was your first Creative product that you owned?...
My first Creative product was the Video Blaster Web Cam Go!
2...How and when did you get employed at Creative Labs?...
I came to Creative in 1999 after working as PR Manager for Sierra Sports, working on the Trophy Bass and Trophy Buck titles.
3...What sort of corporate culture does Creative have? Does "Outside the box" thinking permeate the company?...
The culture embraces new ideas, which is true to its innovative and entrepreneurial founder and CEO Mr. Sim Wong Hoo, the inventor of the Sound Blaster sound card and so much more.
4...What is the role of Creative Labs [Creative's American Subsidiary], and how is the communication between America and Singapore?...
Creative Labs handles daily sales, marketing and operations functions in the Americas, Europe and also Asia. Communication between America and Singapore is good and it happens on a daily basis - it's really a 24 hour per day correspondence.
| [ image disabled ] | | 5...Does Creative being a Singapore based company, present unique problems, and necessitate unique solutions?...
As a wise friend of mine once said, "you live in the world; you don't live in the US" So really it's great interacting with the team in Singapore and all over the world.
6...Have you ever met CEO Sim Wong Hoo, what is he like? Is he as awesome/crazy as he seems?...
I have had the pleasure of working with Mr. Sim on a variety of projects over the years. He is fascinating and brilliant, and we've gone on press tours together and had great fun winning multiple Best of CES Awards. Mr. Sim's intellectual curiosity seems to have no end, and spending time with him is genuinely inspiring.
7...What do you think is the crowning achievement of Creative as a company? Is it a product, or something less tangible?...
Being an innovator with a great vision, from Sound Blaster on to introducing the NOMAD and ZEN players well before anyone believed that people would store all of their music on a PC and that the PC would become such a versatile entertainment platform. I've seen products over the years such as Voip Blaster and Sound Blaster Wireless Music that were ahead of their time in my opinion. Today our inPerson videoconferencing device is leading the charge for portable wireless videoconferencing in a compact device that everyone in a company can access. These are just a few examples. Our engineers are always thinking of something cool! |
8...Much has been made of a potential "deal" that Creative turned down to be involved with Apples iPods. Were you around at that time, and do you have any insights? Do you think it would have been a positive thing or a negative thing. [There is much community debate over this...
I was here to experience the initial launch of the NOMAD players in the late '90s and then the NOMAD Jukebox at CES 2000. Since then we've sold more than 25 million MP3 players worldwide and won multiple Best of CES awards for the players, so I think Creative has established itself in the category as a leader in innovation.
9...You mentioned you were a fan of epiZENter.net. Are you aware of other Creative fansites [nothingbutcreative/mycreativefansite/pimpmyzen]? What role do you think the Internet community plays for Creative?...
I am aware of and appreciative of Creative fansites. I think the Internet plays a huge role because of the passion of the users and the immediacy that it allows for news to spread. I never take my role at Creative for granted because the Internet provides a constant view of how many people really care about Creative.
10...What do you think of The Creative Robot?...
I see that your user comments are as diverse and passionate as ours. | | [ image disabled ]
Creative Robot |
Click the link below to see the second half of our interview11...Hands down in the mp3 player category, the Zen Vision M/W seems to be the most loved player from Creative. Many fans expected the Vision line to be developed further, were there plans to do this at any stage?...
The transition has been to flash memory from hard drives for our players, so although the Vision line didn't continue, you were the first to recognize the emergence of other lines of high capacity players such as the ZEN and ZEN X-Fi that carried and played music, movies and photos.
| [ image disabled ] | | 12...Because patent filings are available to be accessed, Creative fans can see projects that didn't get made, like the rumoured "Zen Share". Is it common for planned players not to make it into production? Are these business based decisions?...
In the planning stage any number of code names can be used, and the product group is always balancing technological innovation with market demand and business considerations.
13...The Internet has been buzzing for a while after having found out just exactly what the Zii chip from Zii-Labs can do. The website mentions that it has been in development for quite some time, and at considerable expense to Creative. Are there any plans to leverage the power of this chip in a Creative made mp3 player, or personal digital device in the near future?...
Stay tuned! |
14...Much of the Internet was upset about "Daniel K" who was modding drivers for Creative soundcards, and was asked not to request money for them. Personally i think the whole thing was blown way out of proportion, but what is Creatives official standpoint on people modifying drivers, or using tools to modify Mp3 Player firmware to change the style of their personal devices, like at pimpmyzen, or the rockbox effort?...
It is great if people can help the community without violating licensing agreements or intellectual property. A lot of very smart people use Creative products, and it's quite impressive to see the amount of passion that people put into developing unique solutions.
15...The addition of an SD card slot on the zen made a lot of people happy, but many were sad that the content on the cards could not be integrated with the main memory, for an expanded song collection for example. Is this a technical limitation or a specific decision. Would it be possible to rectify it with a firmware update?...
That is not something that a firmware update would address.
16...There are rumours of a new player to be released this summer, with touchscreen amongst other capabilities. What can you tell us about these rumours? [Just a little hint!]...
With respect to you and your readers I can't address rumours.
17...What effect has the financial crisis had on Creative? Everyone is hurting, but has this stalled any plans for future products at the company?...
We are focusing on aligning our revenues with our gross margins and operating expenses so we can be profitable. | | [ image disabled ] |
18...This isn't really a question, just tell Ryan Schlieper that he is awesome...
Ryan, or DigitalRonyn, is a great guy. We just traveled to E3 together and he stole the stage every day at the Fatal1ty booth. A born performer.
19...One last question, where do you think the future lies for Creative. With such a diversity of products, where do you think focus should be going forward? What makes the most financial sense vs. what has the most public interest?
I can tell you that we will continue to innovate and work diligently to provide products that people love.
20...Okay i lied, these are the last questions. What is your favourite colour? And who is your favourite muppet?...
Green. Janice from the band.
...Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer these questions...
...No doubt everyone at epiZENter will be very interested in your answers...
...We all love Creative for one reason or another, and we wish you the best of luck going forward...
Thank you for the opportunity to engage with your readers. I appreciate all of you very much!
We would like to thank Phil once again for being gracious enough to conduct an interview with us. I hope it's the first of many!
You can hear more from Phil by checking out his
Twitter page
DAPreview WebRing
