What do you want to know
- Panos Panay leaves Microsoft after 20 years.
- Panay is responsible for creating the Surface line of devices as Microsoft and later led the Windows team.
- A report suggests that Amazon offered Panay to help save its Alexa and Echo speaker division.
When you have a CV like Panos Panay’s, people pay attention when you change jobs. After all, Panay has led Microsoft’s Surface division for two decades and is responsible for some of the most influential Microsoft hardware of all time. This morning we learned that Panay was leaving Microsoft, but the original report didn’t explain why.
Now, according to a report from Bloomberg, it appears Amazon made Panay an offer he couldn’t refuse. Panay would run Amazon’s Alexa and Echo business, a division that lost about $10 billion for Amazon in 2022 despite making some of the best smart speakers available. We’ve reached out to Microsoft and Amazon for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
If reports are accurate, Panay will replace Dave Limp, who recently announced he would retire by the end of the year. Amazon is hosting a big devices and services event this Wednesday, September 20, 2023, and the company will follow these announcements with a second Amazon Prime Day on October 10 and 11. Coincidentally, Microsoft is also hosting a Surface event this Thursday, September 21.
Microsoft’s most recent mobile offering, the Surface Duo 2, received critical praise but lackluster performance at retail. And although Microsoft’s Windows Phone didn’t do as well as the company hoped – with the company abandoning the project in 2017 – Surface was more successful.
Likewise, Amazon’s one and only mobile attempt, the Fire Phone, didn’t sell particularly well. While it’s unclear whether Amazon would ask Panay to relaunch a new mobile device division for the company, it’s clear that Amazon’s existing device divisions need all the help they can get to generate benefits.
Amazon Echo Dot (5th generation)
Amazon’s Echo line of smart speakers is legendary, so why not pick up another one for that extra room in your home?
