Microsoft Corp. stated its chief product officer is leaving, a big departure for the corporate’s {hardware} and Home windows divisions.
Panos Panay will keep lengthy sufficient to assist his replacements transition into the function, Rajesh Jha, government vice chairman of the experiences and gadgets group, introduced in an electronic mail to workers on Monday.
Panay, who had been with Microsoft since 2004, was central to the corporate’s {hardware} efforts in his function main the Floor laptop division and most just lately heading the Home windows unit. Pavan Davuluri is being tapped to supervise working programs, gadgets and chips associated to desktop shoppers, cloud and synthetic intelligence. Yusuf Mehdi will work with computer-maker and retail partnerships, Jha stated.
“Thanks, Panos, to your affect on our merchandise, tradition, firm, and trade over the previous 20 years,” Chief Govt Officer Satya Nadella stated in a press release, including that the corporate will “stay steadfast and convicted in our technique.”
Panay served as basic supervisor for Floor when the preliminary tablets, Microsoft’s first piece of laptop {hardware}, had been launched in 2012. Since then, he’s led an enlargement into laptops, desktops and equipment. The gadgets attracted comparisons to Apple, due to glitzy launch occasions and a concentrate on element and high-quality design.
Extra just lately, Microsoft has scaled again the Floor operation, axing personnel and chopping slow-selling merchandise. The corporate’s HoloLens mixed-reality goggles challenge, overseen by Panay since 2022, has additionally struggled, thanks partially to a delayed US Military contract.
The corporate’s “dedication” to Floor and the mixed-reality enterprise “stays unchanged,” Jha wrote in his electronic mail.
Davuluri, a 20-year Microsoft veteran, is a vice chairman in Home windows and System engineering and has led silicon and programs integration. Mehdi has been at Microsoft for greater than 30 years and first got here to prominence as the pinnacle of promoting campaigns for Web Explorer within the Nineteen Nineties. Extra just lately he has held roles at Xbox, Home windows and Bing.