Former Pandora Exec Handman Joins OnLive As COO

As perhaps the most visible example yet of a cloud-based video game streaming service aiming for the mainstream, OnLive may be able to learn useful lessons from other content streaming firms -- and the company plans to tap such experience directly with a key new hire. Former Pandora Internet Radio COO Etienne Handman will become OnLive's chief operating officer effective immediately; the company says his mandate is to "instill the same consumer entertainment expertise and leadership that helped Pandora become a music-streaming juggernaut." Handman has 25 years' experience in the growth and management of tech-rich businesses, credited with helping lead Pandora to the 75 million users it claims today. Naturally, that's the kind of growth a company like OnLive would love to attain; it took a cue from Netflix videos by introducing a similar pricing option for its game rentals, and today the company announced another step into consumers' living rooms through plans to be built in to Vizio televisions, Blu-ray players and mobile devices. CEO Steve Perlman notes: "Both OnLive and Pandora are about using advanced technology to distribute traditional media in a new way, and Etienne knows more about successfully growing such a business than perhaps anyone else on the planet." "Etienne is one of the brightest minds and most accomplished team leaders in our industry, and we both strongly believe what happened at Pandora can and will happen here at OnLive," Perlman states. For Handman's part, he says he made the difficult decision to leave Pandora because he believes OnLive "is cloud computing's ultimate destination."