It is time for our next post in the “2011: A Mobile Year in Review” – our Q&A style blog series that features the thoughts and insights of mobile industry luminaries, media executives and brand marketers.

In this post, Deepak Thomas, General Manager of Classifieds at eBay (@ebay) shares with us what catalysts contributed to the growth of mobile at eBay Classifieds and how his business unit evolved their mobile presence in 2011. Lastly, Deepak talks about the shrink-wrapped software days and why he’s glad they are behind us.

Deepak Thomas is the General Manager at eBay Classifieds US. He was previously GM of Mobile Classifieds at eBay with responsibilities for their global mobile properties in Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Prior to that, he was GM of Mobile Products at IAC/Match.com and held  various product and partner development roles at Oracle Corp.’s Mobile Products division. He also held P&L responsibility for the ESPN wireless remote product while at Chicago-based mobile startup tvCompass Inc., where he also served as Director of product marketing. Deepak holds an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of Chicago.

Q – What was the single biggest mobile innovation you saw this year?

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Today we’re bringing you the next post in our  “2011: A Mobile Year in Review” Q&A style blog series that features the thoughts and insights of mobile industry luminaries, media executives and brand marketers.

In this week’s post, Michael Ricci (@MobileNTRactv), Vice President of Mobile at Webtrends (@Webtrends), talks shop about why mobile really took off in 2011. He shares his thoughts on such subjects as the biggest mobile innovation of the year and the top reasons companies decided to invest in mobile analytics. Additionally, he offers his perspective on the mobile device that came out of nowhere and really delivered the goods in 2011. Finally, Ricci gazes into his crystal ball to predict the next big thing in mobile for 2012.

 As VP of Mobile for Webtrends, Mike is responsible for all facets of Webtrends’ mobile analytics business and works with blue chip clients like Coca Cola, Hilton, Microsoft, NY Times, RIM, Polar and a host of others to effectively implement measurement programs that shape mobile strategies and user experiences.  Mr. Ricci joins Webtrends from Merkle, where he served as vice president and mobile practice leader. At Merkle, Ricci established the company’s presence in mobile marketing and worked with Merkle’s blue-chip client list to develop mobile engagement strategies. Prior to Merkle, Mike held key executive roles at iLoop Mobile, Volantis Systems, Aggreko plc and York International Corporation. 

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