Panos Panay has at all times been the drive behind Microsoft’s Floor line. He helped convey Floor to life as a secret mission greater than 10 years in the past. He’s offered the brand new gadgets onstage at occasions, showed up at malls to advertise Floor {hardware}, and has steered Microsoft’s Floor tablets to success within the years since.
Now, he’s leaving in a shock departure introduced simply days earlier than Microsoft’s subsequent large Floor occasion. Panay will now not be presenting at Microsoft’s showcase on Thursday however will stay on the firm for an additional couple of weeks as a part of a transition course of. He’s reportedly becoming a member of Amazon to switch Dave Limp and lead Amazon’s Echo and Alexa push. Amazon can be holding its personal {hardware} occasion on Wednesday.
Panay has spent the previous decade largely targeted on Floor gadgets after Microsoft first developed its pill as a Home windows-powered rival to Apple’s iPad. The Floor Professional pill, which began off as a string and plastic idea, has had a long-lasting affect on Home windows laptops, pushing Microsoft’s OEM companions and rivals to give attention to high quality and 2-in-1 gadgets. The road’s success introduced Panay into the function of Microsoft’s chief product officer.
With Panay’s shock resignation, Microsoft’s occasion in New York Metropolis will now supply the primary glimpse at the way forward for Home windows and Floor below new management. Microsoft is predicted to unveil three new Floor gadgets but in addition give attention to AI-powered options for Floor, Home windows, Workplace, Bing, and extra.
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s shopper advertising head, will now tackle the accountability of main the Home windows and Floor companies and merchandise externally. Crucially, Mehdi’s job title hasn’t modified with Panay’s departure right here, so Microsoft now not has a chief product officer.
With no clear alternative for Panay’s distinctive function at Microsoft, it looks like Mehdi will tackle his obligations of being the principle face of Home windows and Floor gadgets. Whereas Panay is a product maker, Mehdi has, as a rule, been the advertising man for Microsoft’s numerous shopper efforts.
He first joined Microsoft in 1992, engaged on product administration for Web Explorer and Home windows earlier than serving to lead Microsoft’s entry into search with Bing. His profession at Microsoft has spanned three totally different CEOs — Invoice Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella — and a wide range of totally different product launches. He’s been concerned in Floor, the Home windows 10 launch, and the HoloLens headset.
Mehdi was additionally on the middle of Microsoft’s failed TV push for Xbox and the launch of the Xbox One console. Later, he was answerable for a “trendy life” initiative to try to win again the customers Microsoft had let down, following the corporate’s choices to kill off its Groove Music service, discontinue Kinect, scrap its Microsoft Band health system, and even discontinue Home windows Telephone. Microsoft finally laid off its trendy life crew throughout cuts final yr.
Microsoft is splitting up a few of Panay’s different obligations. Pavan Davuluri, who heads a crew targeted on silicon, techniques, and gadgets throughout Home windows and cloud, will now report on to Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s vice chairman of expertise and gadgets. This crew consists of key Floor expertise like Ralf Groene, Stevie Bathiche, and Robin Seiler. Pavan may even tackle Home windows planning and launch administration accountability.
Apparently, Microsoft can be constructing a brand new “Home windows and Internet Experiences” crew. Microsoft typically types a lot of these groups when it needs to sort out a specific new space for Home windows, and this time, it’s constructing AI-powered net companies for Home windows. We’ve already seen Microsoft pivot in direction of web-powered options in Home windows 11, with basic items just like the search interface dynamically updating from the net, a widgets system, and extra. So anticipate to see much more of this sooner or later.
Mikhail Parakhin, who has been targeted on Bing Chat in latest months, is main this new experiences crew, and it’ll embody executives who’ve a historical past in product administration, engineering, and Microsoft’s cross-devices Android work.
These Home windows and Floor leaders will now steer Microsoft’s working system and {hardware} towards AI. It’s what Microsoft needs individuals to get enthusiastic about proper now and one thing we’re prone to see a number of on the firm’s occasion on Thursday. Microsoft has been more and more making an attempt to make use of Home windows as a car for its AI efforts or to try to push Bing and Edge onto customers and companies alike.
I interviewed key Floor members final yr for a narrative on 10 years of Floor, and it was clear from talking to them that AI was going to have a huge impact on Home windows and Floor for the following decade to return. There have been persistent rumors in regards to the firm constructing its personal Arm chips for servers and Floor PCs, and even rival AI chips to keep away from a expensive reliance on Nvidia.
“AI goes to reinvent the way you do the whole lot on Home windows,” Panay stated earlier this yr. Panay received’t be at Microsoft anymore to steer this reinvention of how you utilize Home windows. However his resignation hasn’t signaled a method shift or change in course for Home windows at Microsoft, from what I can inform.
The query proper now could be round how Microsoft continues to innovate on the {hardware} aspect. Panay was at all times a gadgets fan, having led the Floor Professional growth that has seen firms like Apple, Dell, and Asus produce their very own Floor-like gadgets. However Microsoft signaled modifications in its {hardware} portfolio earlier this yr amid layoffs. Is there nonetheless room for Floor to do modern laptop computer and pill designs like we’ve seen over the past decade, or does Microsoft’s push for AI overshadow the dangerous {hardware} bets?
Microsoft is rumored to have scrapped plans for a dual-screen Floor Duo 3, years after successfully canceling its Home windows-powered Floor Neo dual-screen system. It’s not clear what the long run holds for Microsoft’s personal Android efforts. The unique Floor Duo simply reached finish of life with simply two Android model updates. Microsoft’s mice, keyboards, and webcams have additionally been discontinued in favor of Floor equipment.
Microsoft additionally invested closely in Home windows 11 in the course of the pandemic and the PC gross sales growth, however Floor and gadgets income has been battered this yr as PC shipments skilled large declines. Earlier than the PC pandemic growth, Nadella was additionally a future past Home windows, iOS, and Android. He joked in January 2020 that Home windows may very well be referred to as “Azure Edge” sooner or later to make it clear that cloud companies are the most important {hardware} enterprise at Microsoft.
Throughout the FTC v. Microsoft listening to, we heard that Microsoft needs to maneuver Home windows totally to the cloud on the patron aspect, one thing it has been more and more doing on the business aspect with Home windows 365. The formation of a brand new web-focused Home windows crew suggests this effort could be very a lot in movement.
Maybe this uncertainty across the PC enterprise after an enormous growth in gross sales has led Panay again to only wanting to construct gadgets quite than the difficult job of working Home windows and gearing it up for AI and a future within the cloud.
All of this will probably be prime of thoughts watching how Microsoft discusses Home windows and Floor at its occasion on Thursday. We’re coming into a brand new AI period for Home windows and Microsoft’s many companies, and it will likely be key to see precisely how Floor performs its half with out considered one of its key inventors on the helm.
