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Gavin Kim's on the move again, joins NQ Mobile after leaving Windows Phone
That was quick. A mere five days after saying goodbye to his cohorts at Microsoft, former Windows Phone GM Gavin Kim has landed at Mobile NQ as its Chief Product Officer. By joining the mobile privacy and security firm, Kim will be working with a couple of former Samsung colleagues at Mobile NQ -- co-CEO Omar Khan and PR maven Kim Titus. The real question is, with this being Gavin's third career stop in a year, how long will the reunion last?
Microsoft taps Samsung VP Gavin Kim to be new Windows Phone GM
The last Windows Phone General Manager, Charlie Kindel, may have been a longtime Microsoft vet, but the company's looked beyond Redmond for his permanent replacement. As BGR reports, Microsoft has snagged Samsung's VP of of consumer and enterprise services, Gavin Kim, to lead the Windows Phone product team. In describing his new role, Kim tells BGR that he'll "be responsible to help set the future direction for the Windows Phone platform and to accelerate Microsoft's trajectory to win the hearts and minds of consumers, carriers, device manufacturers, developers and partners." At Samsung, Kim most recently worked on the company's various Galaxy products, and he unsurprisingly remains complimentary of the company, noting that it has a "very bright future ahead of itself," and that he expects a "tremendous amount of synergy between Microsoft and Samsung." BGR's full interview is at the source link below.
New Intel Xeon processors due March 29: Could new Mac Pro be far behind?
MacRumors.com's Arnold Kim writes that a few of the participants in his website's forum are eagerly awaiting the arrival on March 29 of a new Nehalem-based Intel Xeon processor -- suitable for use in the fastest Mac Pro desktops. What do these new chips bring to the table? Raw power: TechRadar found that 2.8GHz Nehalem Xeon processors scored a SPECfp benchmark of 160, compared to the current Penryn-based Xeon processors that scored just 90. Kim makes a good point -- part of the reason we haven't seen much movement lately in the Mac Pro line is because of the popularity of Apple's notebook lines: something Apple admitted in its first-quarter conference call on January 21. What that means for the final release date of any new Mac Pro models is anyone's guess. Once the processors are available for sale, anecdotal evidence would suggest it's just a matter of time before Apple includes them in new Mac Pro models. That's not a guarantee, though. Last year, when Apple last updated the Mac Pro line, they offered a single highly-customizable build-to-order option, rather than a range of trim levels. [Via IGM.]
'Marble' to be the next look-and-feel for Mac OS X?
Snow Leopard, the next major version of Mac OS X, will include minor tweaks to the user interface, according to MacRumors' Arnold Kim. "The new theme will likely involve tweaks to the existing design and perhaps a 'flattening' of Aqua in-line with Apple's iTunes and iPhoto interface elements," Kim writes. AppleInsider's Kate Marsal posted a screenshot of some controls purported to be part of the new interface, dubbed "Marble." It's unclear where the screenshot came from, as Kim writes that development builds have so far used Leopard's version of the Aqua theme. They could easily be Photoshopped screenshots of iPhoto or iTunes, so take that with a grain of salt. Daring Fireball's John Gruber wrote that Marble was the codename for the new interface scheme in his Macworld predictions roundup, but said later he was wrong when it was not announced during the keynote. He wagered that the look would feature "iTunes-style scrollbars everywhere, darker window chrome, and a light-text-on-dark-background menu bar." Snow Leopard is rumored to be released before the end of March.
Shane Kim: First console to 100 million wins
Microsoft's Shane Kim now sees the end to the console war as a new magic number: first system to 100 million units sold wins, he tells Wired. That's an increase of 90 million over the 10 million mark Microsoft used to promote as the bellwether of victory. Kim believes consumers are still deciding what system to choose and that this console generation is different from the others. (Yeah, it's the first time Microsoft actually has a chance.)Kim explains that Sony won the last couple generations, but Nintendo is clearly in first place this time around; however, he wonders if Nintendo can keep that momentum going up to 100 million (at Nintendo's rate of supply, it could take decades). He even questions it there'll be a clear-cut winner this generation. Finally, Kim assures that the Microsoft hardware guys are still working on reducing the cost of Xbox 360, in order to hit that "mass market" price point.
Microsoft's Shane Kim fine with no Xboy
In an interview with Eurogamer, Microsoft Game Studios VP Shane Kim says he's "happy" the company never got into the handheld market, explaining the division has plenty on its plate with the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. He goes pretty deep into the issue, almost shutting down the idea of the Xboy entirely by expressing Microsoft is happy to let Sony and Nintendo fight it out.Kim believes mobile is more important for MS and Windows Mobile is a really "compelling opportunity" for the company. He explains that it's a way for the company to get into the arena without having to worry about creating more hardware. Microsoft has certainly learned that making good hardware isn't easy and can be hazardous.
