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Microsoft's Andy Lees exits corporate development role, will announce a new job after his holiday (updated)
Seven months after Andy Lees became Microsoft's vice president of corporate development, the executive has decided that it's time for a rest. AllThingsD is reporting that the deposed former Windows Phone chief is taking a sabbatical to spend some time with his family in England, but will return to a new, currently undefined, role at Redmond later in the summer. Given that the country is currently suffering through one of its traditional summers, we suggest Mr. Lees packs an umbrella. Update: Microsoft has contacted us to clarify that Lees is permanently relocating to the UK, but will remain with the company -- at a position that'll be announced once his sabbatical has ended.
Microsoft replaces Andy Lees as Windows Phone head (updated)
AllThingsD is reporting that Microsoft is replacing Andy Lees as head of its Windows Phone division... sort of. It looks like Terry Myerson, who has headed up engineering efforts for the group, will take over many of Lees' responsibilities, though, he won't be inheriting his title. At least not just yet. In a memo seen by AllThingsD, Ballmer announced that Lees would be taking on a new position with the company, though it's not entirely clear what that might be -- describing it only as "time-critical" and "focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8." (So, it's safe to assume he's not becoming a janitor.) The shakeup isn't terribly surprising, especially considering the CEO's own admission that Windows Phone 7 was not performing as well as expected in the market. The division's interim leader, Myerson, has been with Microsoft since 1997 and previously headed up the team in charge of Exchange. For now he will continue to report to Lees, who will remain the president of the Windows Phone group, even if that is in name only. Update: Microsoft has released the full text of the memo announcing the leadership transition and we've added it after the break. The company also told us that first assuming the responsibilities before the title is standard practice. Andy Lees himself spent a significant period of time as a corporate VP while heading up the Windows Phone division before assuming the title of president.
Verizon pushes for quick Windows Phone / LTE integration, tugs at Microsoft's pant leg
There's no question that Verizon's making a big push for LTE, but it appears that Microsoft has yet to take notice -- after all, Android continues to dominate Big Red's 4G network, with nary a Windows Phone in sight. VZW hopes that'll change, however, with CMO Marni Walden revealing that the company has "communicated to Microsoft that LTE is critical to us," suggesting that the ball is in Windows Phone's court. Meanwhile, Microsoft smartphone chief Andy Lees had previously confirmed that LTE functionality was on the Windows Phone roadmap, saying back in October that the company and its partners were looking at how 4G LTE support could be integrated. To date, Lees has declined to give any indication as to the actual timing for the first LTE models. In other news, Verizon has offered Microsoft a custom-made promise ring just to make sure its intentions were understood.
Microsoft to keep Windows Phone monogamous with Qualcomm's chipsets, for now
Microsoft may not be jumping on the dual-core bandwagon just yet, but it does place a high amount of emphasis on making sure its phones run smoothly. To do so, Windows Phone President Andy Lees stated to Bloomberg that it would continue to keep Qualcomm as its exclusive chipmaker, and has no plans to work with any other company. According to Lees, the monogamous relationship was made to allow Microsoft to use specific technical details, ensuring a smoother experience on all Windows Phones across the board. Lees also mentioned that the kind of production volume generated by such an agreement also allows production costs to dip down, which makes the platform even more appealing to OEMs. If any of you have dreamed of a Windows Phone with NVIDIA or TI running the show, don't try to pinch yourself -- you may be dissatisfied with the results.
Nokia Sabre brandished ahead of launch, expected to unveil its Mango of steel next week?
Andy Lees mentioned at AsiaD that Nokia would be launching more than one Windows Phone at its London-based event next week, and there's a chance that the prototype you see above could be unveiled alongside the Nokia 800 Sea Ray. Pocketnow is referring to the Mr. Blurrycam-produced image as the Sabre, said to be running on a 1.4GHz single-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 3.5-inch WVGA display and a 5MP rear camera. The alleged price won't stab your wallet, as the source claims it'll cost somewhere between $410 and $480. Of course, there's less than a week before Nokia World begins and the speculation ends, and we'll be there to deliver the blow-by-blow action as it happens. Update: Commenters have made the connection between this mysterious device and the recently-announced Nokia 603, a Symbian Belle handset, with the hardware buttons simply whited out at the bottom. And we're definitely seeing the resemblance -- in fact, if you look closely enough at the Metro UI it appears slightly crooked, as if the stack of tiles is leaning to the right. We'd say the chances of this image being a fake are quite high.
Microsoft's Andy Lees: talking to your phone isn't super useful, NFC coming soon to Windows Phone
Microsoft's President of Windows Phone, Mr. Andy Lees, just wrapped up a diverse interview with Ina Fried at AsiaD, in which he took the chance to gloat on Nokia's behalf about the impending launch of its wide array of WP7-based smartphones. Moreover, he proudly responded to claims that WP7 sales have been suboptimal by clarifying that Windows Phone 7 sold more in its first 12 months on the market than did Android. Granted, the smartphone market was entirely more prepared for another entrant when Microsoft arrived, but we digress. He also held no punches when asked to opine on Andy Rubin's swings at Windows Phone from last night's interview, noting that "Android is very techy," and that it's a great OS for a certain population. He stated that Android hits you "with a grid of apps," instead of taking a "people approach," which WP7 presumably has. Of course, we all know how The Social went over... All jesting aside, he responded to Ina's questions surrounding hardware choices with this: "We wanted to stop problems with fragmentation, so we've locked a lot of things down. We want partners to add value, but not in a way that's chaotic. As an example, we do hardware acceleration of the browser -- no matter which WP device you choose, it all works in a consistent way. Some things in 2012 will extend that." Moving on to more competitive questions (surrounding Siri, mostly), he affirmed that users can indeed talk to their Windows Phone handsets, but that the kind of implementation seen in Siri isn't "super useful." He also -- oddly, we must say -- noted that WP7's voice implementations rely on Bing, which harnesses "the full power of the internet, rather than a certain subset." Last we checked, Siri and Wolfram Alpha were connected to the internet, but we get his point -- in theory, at least. He confirmed that speaking to one's phone was practical in places like motorcars, but he seemed to imply that barking commands to a phone in public wasn't something that Microsoft was inclined to ask its users to do. On a hardware-related note, Andy affirmed that NFC chipsets will indeed ship on WP7 devices within the next year, and while Microsoft's not interested in competing with Google and the like from a platform standpoint, it's more than happy to enable mobile payments via services that already exist. To quote: "Microsoft is providing technological building blocks so payments can be done on the phone -- we aren't competing with other people providing services. We'll have a platform approach." Finally, he also alluded to the inclusion of LTE as the infrastructure behind WP evolves, leaving us to wonder if it'll be Apple (or someone else entirely) as the final 4G holdout.
Microsoft's Andy Lees: Nokia will announce 'its Windows Phones' at Nokia World
No surprise here, but you can officially mark Nokia World 2011 down as must-watch TV. Andy Lees just confirmed here on stage at AsiaD that the London-based event, which kicks off on October 26th, will be the launchpad for Nokia's Windows Phones. Yes, phones. As in, plural. He specifically stated: "[Nokia will] have differentiating hardware and software." We've already caught plenty of sneak peeks at what may be on tap, and you can bet we'll be on hand to bring you the details as they're poured out. First Mango, now Nokia. Looks like it'll be quite the holiday season for the WP7 department. Update: Here's a quote near the end of the interview from Andy. "Nokia will announce its rollout plans with Windows Phone, among other things. It made an evaluation early on, and saw our roadmap for this year and next year, and it decided to bet the whole company on Windows Phone based on that. We've seen that other hardware makers have seen this occurrence as an accelerant, which in turn helps both Microsoft and Nokia. I'm also excited about naming some new OEMs that will be coming onboard [with WP7]."
Shocker! Microsoft to produce dual-core, LTE Windows Phones, other modern things
This just in: Microsoft is ready to take the plunge into mobile modernity... at its own pace. During a recent interview with All Things D, Windows Phone President Andy Lees revealed a few details about Redmond's future crop of handsets, which will apparently include both LTE capabilities and dual-core processors. The exec confirmed that LTE-equipped devices are indeed in the pipeline, but declined to specify whether they'd hit the market this year or next. Turns out, Microsoft wants to wait until current LTE networks prove capable of supporting more power-efficient smartphones. "The first LTE phones were big and big [users] of the battery," Lees said. "I think it's possible to do it in a way that is far more efficient, and that's what we will be doing." Lees was similarly opaque about Microsoft's plans to incorporate dual-core CPUs into its mobile lineup, saying only that they're on the way. According to him, however, even single-core Windows Phones can hold their own against the dual-core competition: "They're all single core, but I suspect that they will be faster in usage than any dual-core phone that you put against it, and that's the point." Lees went on to wax Panglossian about Microsoft's strategy, claiming that the absence of LTE and dual-core processing doesn't necessarily mean that his company is behind the times. "I think that what our strategy is is to put things in place that allow us to leapfrog, and I think that's how we've gone from worse [sic] browser to the best browser," he explained, "and I think the same is true with hardware." Check out the full interview for yourself, at the source link below.
Microsoft's Andy Lees on Windows' future: one ecosystem to rule them all
Microsoft has seen the future of personal computing, and it's a world with a single Windows ecosystem. Windows Phone head honcho Andy Lees -- who said that we won't be seeing WP7 on tablets during Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference yesterday -- still sees slates, phones, consoles, and PCs playing together in perfect harmony. His plan is to provide users with a consistent experience across all Microsoft-powered devices, though he didn't flesh out exactly how this singular ecosystem will work. Given recent evidence indicating Xbox integration in Windows 8 and the UI similarities between the forthcoming desktop OS and WP7, it seems that Microsoft is well on its way to a consolidated future. But, only time will tell if Mr. Lees' can deliver us from fragmentation with a unified Windows.
Andy Lees says no to Mango on Windows tablets
Microsoft's Andy Lees quashed dreams of Windows tablets running a Mango-style OS during a talk at the company's Worldwide Partners Conference today, saying the mobile operating system would conflict with the outfit's ideas of what makes a slate. According to Electronista, Lees said the computing giant sees tablets as PCs, making the mobile OS incompatible with its vision. He went on to say that Windows 8's networking and printing functions make it more suited to the needs of tablet users. So, if you're looking for the sweet style of Mango, it looks like you'll have get your hands on one of these bad boys.
Copy and paste coming to Windows Phone 7 in 'early 2011' (update)
So, maybe Microsoft meant "people don't do that in 2010." At the mega-corp's UK-based Windows Phone 7 launch event, we were just informed that its hot-off-the-presses mobile OS will be blessed with a software update that'll add copy and paste functionality in "early 2011." That's according to one Andy Lees, and while details beyond that are scant, it's possible that said update will also bring other magical makeovers into the fold. We're still a little baffled that the company would leave such a seemingly vital part of the software out at launch, but we guess certain corners always have to be cut in order to get something out before a sure-to-be-profitable holiday quarter. And hey, it's not like we haven't seen another major mobile OS player pull this same stunt before. Update: CNET's Ina Fried got a quick look at an early implementation of copy and paste in Windows Phone 7, and says it works fairly well: You start by clicking on a single word, then drag your finger across the rest of the passage you'd like to transmit to expand your highlighted selection. When you let go, a paste button appears. Sound about right to you?
Microsoft names three new division presidents following recent departures
As you may have noticed, Microsoft has seen a few pretty significant executive shakeups as of late, with Robbie Bach and J Allard announcing their departures back in May, and Steven Elop leaving just last month to take the top job at Nokia. Now Microsoft has officially filled in some of those gaps, naming Kurt DelBene as president of its Microsoft Office Division, and Andy Lees and Don Mattrick as presidents of its Mobile Communications Business and Interactive Entertainment Business, respectively -- Windows Phone and Xbox, in other words. All three divisions are actually new (at least in name), but DelBene is effectively succeeding Elop, who led Microsoft's Business Division, while Mattrick and Lees are more or less splitting up Robbie Bach's former duties as head of the now dissolved Entertainment and Devices division. Head on past the break for the complete press release.
Microsoft wants employees to code Windows Phone 7 apps 'in their spare time'
You had to know those freebie WP7 devices for Microsoft employees would come with a few strings attached. We imagined the Redmond brain trust was aiming for some word-of-mouth popularization along with a boost in team morale and proactivity, but as it turns out, things are a little more codified than that. TechFlash has what it claims to be the internal memo announcing the free Windows Phone 7 handsets -- from mobile chief Andy Lees, who hasn't been having the best of times lately -- which sets out Redmond's expectation that employees should "evangelize" the product at every opportunity, while also setting aside some spare time before launch to develop apps (but, you know, only if they really want to). The idea, clearly, is to harness Microsoft's massive talent pool to try and get a headstart on populating the Marketplace with compelling content; we're just not too sure the "spare time" bit is going to go over quite as well as the "free smartphone" part. Either way, you'll find the full email from Andy at the source. [Thanks, Mint]
What killed the Kin?
While the news today that Microsoft has killed its troubled Kin line didn't come as the craziest of surprises, it's definitely left a lot of lingering questions about just what happened. Now we may have a little insight into what went wrong -- and what might be in store down the road -- thanks to a reliable source of ours who's shared some news on Redmond's inner turmoil. Apparently, the troubles started long before the swirling Pink phone rumors (and way before the name Kin was ringing in our ears). According to our source, the birth of these devices began with a decision at Microsoft to create a platform agnostic, cloud-centric featurephone. A featurephone that could be had at a relatively low cost, and sold to a burgeoning market of teens and young adults who had little need for a BlackBerry-level device (or pricing). The first step in the project was acquiring Danger to leverage the work it had done with the Sidekick platform, and aligning with Verizon as a launch partner who could offer attractive pricing plans for the devices to a big pool... and here's where the trouble begins.
