Head of Microsoft's Zune Unit Steps Out
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The senior Microsoft executive who guided the launch of the company's digital music player, the Zune, will be leaving Microsoft to "pursue personal interests."
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The Microsoft executive who had led the effort to close the gap on Google is leaving the company.
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Microsoft Corp.  sees expanding  the digital music market -- and not necessarily video -- as the  priority for its new "Zune" portable media player, a company  executive said on Thursday.
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Microsoft said last week that it had met its previously stated goal of selling one million Zunes by the end of the company's fiscal year, which occurred on June 30.
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(InfoWorld) - A Microsoft executive who helped develop the company'sÂ new Zune music playerÂ and other products is leaving the company, Microsoft said Wednesday. Bryan Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft's entertainment business, "has decided to retire from Microsoft to pursue personal interests," the company said in a prepared statement. Lee reported to Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, who hired Lee in 2000. Bach said during his tenure Lee worked on development and deployment of the Xbox gaming system, the Windows XP Media Center operating system and the company's IP-television initiatives. "I want to extend my thanks to Bryan from the company and from me personally, for all of his contributions to Microsoft," Bach said. The Zune music player,Â introduced in November 2006, has been touted as Microsoft's challenge to the market-leading MP3 player, the iPod from Apple. Zune users can download music or videos from Microsoft's Zune.com Web site to the 30GB player. Unlike the iPod, the Zune is equipped with Wi-Fi. Lee will remain at Microsoft for a few more weeks to assist in the transition, the company said. J. Allard, corporate vice president of design and development, will take over full responsibility for the Zune. Joe Belfiore and Enrique Rodriguez, both corporate vice presidents who had reported to Lee, will now report to Bach.
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Microsoft raises the curtain on its challenge to the iPod, the Zune digital media player.
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It's not just about Apple's music players. Microsoft's Zune player also got a little less expensive today.
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The head of Microsoft's Business Division is leaving the company, to be replaced by former Juniper Networks COO Stephen Elop in September.
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Microsoft's new Zune media player has some features that will distinguish it from Apple's market-leading iPod, analysts said. But whether it's cool enough to rule is an open question.
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The Microsoft Corp.  executive in charge of closing the gap on Web search leader Google Inc  is leaving the company, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
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The chief executive of Microsoft Corp&#39;s   Greater China business, Chen Yongzheng, has resigned,  the world&#39;s largest software maker said on Wednesday.
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Microsoft has beaten its goal of shipping over a million Zune digital music players by June.
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By Benjamin J. Romano, The Seattle Times  Sep. 14--Microsoft this morning officially unveiled Zune, its entry in  the portable digital music and entertainment market dominated by Apple  Computer's iPod and iTunes.
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(InfoWorld) - The executive in charge of leading Microsoft's battle against search giant Google is leaving the company to form his own venture, according to published reports. The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that Chris Payne, corporate vice president of Windows Live search, plans to leave his job and form a company in Seattle. According to the report, his departure is part of a set of changes in the organization since Microsoft appointed former Ask.com executive Steve Berkowitz last year as senior vice president to lead its online group. Microsoft has declined to comment on reports of Payne's leaving, and his biography remained on Microsoft's Web site Thursday. According to the bio, Payne is in charge of "delivering the best search experience for customers and helping them find the information that is important to them," as well as overseeing Windows Live Shopping. Published reports did not make it clear if Payne plans to leave Microsoft for his own reasons or if the company is letting him go. However, Microsoft's search and online business has not been faring well against Google since Microsoft unveiled a plan in November 2005 to rename its search engine Windows Live Search and develop other Web-based services under that moniker in an attempt to take more of the online advertising market. The company at the time also announced a small-business hosted package called Office Live. Just last week in a conference call, financial analysts from UBS Investment Research saidÂ Microsoft's search business is "massively underperforming"Â against Google in both the incidence of search queries and in advertising revenue. They also predicted that the gap between the two companies in this market would not be closing anytime soon unless Microsoft takes drastic measures to ramp up its search strategy by striking deals with enterprise partners and finding legal ways to link its online offerings to its popular enterprise software products. Revenue from Microsoft's online properties also remained relatively flat over the last fiscal year despite the company's increased investment to bolster this part of its business. Before taking over Microsoft's Windows Live Search team, Payne was vice president of MSN.com, where he managed MSN Search, the MSN.com home page, MSN Autos, MSN Entertainment, MSNBC, Slate, and the MSN Channels properties.
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Microsoft has announced the resignation of its head of acquisitions, Bruce Jaffe, two days after the company bid $1.2 billion for enterprise search expert Fast Search & Transfer.
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The CEO of the computer disk drive maker abruptly resigns.
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Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s  head of marketing communications, who led a recent switch to a new advertising agency, has left the company, the world's biggest retailer said on Tuesday.