Zune executive leaves Microsoft
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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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In what a Microsoft executive claims is a good but not overwhelming start, the company says it will have sold one million Zune media players by the end of June.
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Microsoft says Japanese firm Toshiba will make its Zune portable music player, due out later this year.
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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 says it is on track to sell its millionth Zune music player, the software company's would-be challenger to Apple's enormously popular iPod.
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Sales of the Microsoft Zune appear to be trailing off rather quickly after a fast start, leading some analysts to believe consumer interest is waning. The best selling model, black, ranks well below its competitors in sales.
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Software giant Microsoft unveiled a &quot;Zune&quot; MP3 player and online store to challenge Apple Computer's internationally popular iPod-iTunes personal entertainment duo.
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Jingle bells Microsoft has confirmed it will detail its second-generation Zune media players in time for the Christmas sales season. Speculation as to what the software giant will announce currently centres on a higher capacity hard drive model and a cheaper, Flash-based Zune.â¦
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The chief executive of Microsoft Corp's  Greater China business, Chen Yongzheng, has resigned, the world's largest software maker said on Wednesday.
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Microsoft MP3 player exceeds expectations Microsoft expects sales of the Zune to hit the one million milestone by the end of June, almost eight months after the product made its debut. Apple on the other hand has sold 100 million of the music players since its launch in October 2001.â¦
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The executive who headed the Microsoft's video game business resigns.
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(InfoWorld) - A Microsoft executive has confirmed that the leader of its search team is leaving the company. In an internal memo viewed by IDG News Service, Microsoft's President of its Platforms and Services Division Kevin Johnson said that Christopher Payne is leaving Microsoft to form his own company. Published reports including one by The Wall Street Journal said as much last week, but Microsoft would not confirm his departure. Johnson said in the memo -- dated Friday and sent Sunday night to Microsoft employees, sources said -- that he and Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live Engineering are searching for a successor for Payne. "Christopher has been a tireless leader of our search R&D efforts over the last four years," Sinofsky wrote in his memo. "In that period, we've built a world-class search engine and a fantastic development team focused on this key business and product area for Microsoft. I thank Christopher for his leadership in this area, and wish him well in his future endeavors." Johnson said Microsoft's online services business continues to be "crucial" to the company's future success, and the company is committed to "accelerating" its progress in this area. "We need to drive hard on search, build our services platform to support users around the world, and deliver compelling user experiences," he wrote. "I appreciate your continued focus on the upcoming milestones and deliverables in our current search plan." Microsoft could not be reached immediately for comment through its public relations firm on Monday. Payne's bio remained online Monday, and Johnson's e-mail did not specify when the corporate vice president in charge of Windows Live Search would be leaving the company. It also was not clear if Payne plans to leave Microsoft for his own reasons or if the company is terminating his employment. 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. At the time, the company also announced a small-business hosted package called Office Live. 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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As first confirmed by BetaNews earlier this month, Microsoft said Thursday that it would match the price of Apple's 30GB iPod, and lower the price of its Zune portable music device to $249.99 USD. Zune goes on sale November 14.
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Blog: Microsoft's game guru leaves the company for EA--interesting, since he made a big deal about EA Sports title Madden NFL 2008 at his E3 address.
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Microsoft Corp. has turned to an executive at The Walt Disney Co. to fill a vacancy created when the software maker fired its chief information officer.
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Zzzz...wake me when it arrives Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told German business and economics magazine Wirtschafts Woche in an interview that Microsoft will delay the European launch of its moderately-waited Zune MP3 player until next year.â¦
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SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. slashed $50 from the price of its Zune digital media player Wednesday, the same day Apple Inc. was expected to unveil additions to its market-leading iPod line.