Innovation Honour for EQO Co-founder

Jeff LaPorte, Co-Founder and Chief Software Architect at EQO, has been recognised by Technology Review magazine as one of the world’s top innovators under the age of 35 for his creation of technology that enables regular mobile phone handsets to make cost efficient, Internet-based mobile phone calls through the fusion of mobile data and voice networks.
Selected from more than 300 nominees by a panel of expert judges and the editorial staff of Technology Review, the TR35 is an elite group of accomplished young innovators who exemplify the spirit of innovation in business, technology and the arts.
LaPorte’s innovation was spurred by his desire to challenge the ‘walled garden’ approach in which users are restricted in the choice of services they can enjoy on their mobile devices. The end result enables people to make affordable international calls straight from their mobile phones.
LaPorte conceived a new type of “overlay” mobile voice service that rides on top of existing mobile voice and data networks, and works with regular mobile handsets. He co-founded EQO to develop and market the technology worldwide, and it is currently available for download on several hundred handsets to users in 29 countries.
LaPorte and the other TR35 winners for 2007 will be featured in the September issue of Technology Review magazine and honoured at the Emerging Technologies Conference to be held at MIT from 25 – 27 September.
“Jeff is truly a pioneer in this field” says EQO CEO Bill Tam. “He’s one of the few individuals who really understands the convergence of web services, VoIP and mobile telecom. Jeff has done a remarkable job of ensuring that EQO is best-in-class from this perspective.”
There’s more information on the TR35 here.