Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Ever met a famous person?

recently, i just came back from a business trip in boston, ma.

on my flight back from boston to new york, i took the airline JetBlue. there was this very neatly dressed business man sitting by the window seat next to me. he seemed very anxious and was constantly looking at his iphone and checking his emails, browsing the web, etc. probably because the flight got delayed by 40 mins or so.

i couldn't help but to noticed there's something special about him but in a good way.

during the 55 min flight, i was so bombed from the boston esc show, i decided take a quick nap. just when the flight was about the land, i woke up and turned on my android phone, G2 phone the MyTouch 3G.

that's when our conversation started. he asked how i liked using the android phone and i told him the pros and cons as well as how it compares to the iphone. so our conversation started to take off and i started talking a bit technical. as a sales person, i can always tell when someone was starting to lose interest in the subject, so i quickly change the topic. he then got curious and asked what i do for a living, so i replied "semiconductor related or more specifically SSD for industrial and embedded application".

he then said "no wonder you seem technical when you talk, kinda have to for your line of work." i admit, i'm a total nerd when it comes to techie stuff.

so then i asked what kind of industry he's in, and he simply replied "software" or more specifically something to do with downloading music from the web.

right then and there my gut feeling shot out of my mouth and said "NAPSTER"? needless to say, John was very shocked and surprised to hear that. Immediately, he asked for my business card and gave me his.

the famous person that sat next to me on the plane whom i had the pleasure of speaking to about technologies in cell phones is John Fanning, the original Founder and CEO of NAPSTER! HOLY COW!!

what's awesome was right afterward we exited the plane, John took off running to get to his next meeting as I wished him good luck on a great meeting, he turned around and said thanks.

after that, a couple ppl walked up to me and asked me did that guy just said he's the founder/ CEO of Napster? i proudly said yup and showed them his business card. after which, the only words coming out of their mouths was "HOLY SHIT"!

never thought what it would be like to meet a famous person and yet all this time, i thought he was just a regular joe like me. even as a millionaire, John is a very down to earth guy and very humble. i wish him the very best of luck...