Panos Panay has all the time been the drive behind Microsoft’s Floor line. He helped deliver Floor to life as a secret venture greater than 10 years in the past. He’s offered the brand new units 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 surprise departure introduced simply days earlier than Microsoft’s subsequent huge Floor occasion. Panay will now not be presenting at Microsoft’s showcase on Thursday however will stay on the firm for one more couple of weeks as a part of a transition course of. He’s reportedly joining Amazon to switch Dave Limp and lead Amazon’s Echo and Alexa push. Amazon can also be holding its personal {hardware} occasion on Wednesday.
Panay has spent the previous decade largely centered on Floor units 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 concept, has had a long-lasting affect on Home windows laptops, pushing Microsoft’s OEM companions and rivals to concentrate on high quality and 2-in-1 units. 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 provide the primary glimpse at the way forward for Home windows and Floor beneath new management. Microsoft is anticipated to unveil three new Floor units but in addition concentrate on AI-powered options for Floor, Home windows, Workplace, Bing, and extra.
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s client advertising head, will now tackle the duty 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 units. Whereas Panay is a product maker, Mehdi has, as a rule, been the advertising man for Microsoft’s numerous client 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 quite a lot 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 in command of a “modern 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 fitness device, and even discontinue Windows Phone. Microsoft finally laid off its modern life team throughout cuts final yr.
Microsoft is splitting up a few of Panay’s different obligations. Pavan Davuluri, who heads a staff centered on silicon, methods, and units throughout Home windows and cloud, will now report on to Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s vp of expertise and units. This staff contains key Floor expertise like Ralf Groene, Stevie Bathiche, and Robin Seiler. Pavan can even tackle Home windows planning and launch administration duty.
Curiously, Microsoft can also be constructing a brand new “Home windows and Net Experiences” staff. Microsoft typically varieties all these groups when it desires 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 the direction of web-powered options in Home windows 11, with basic items just like the search interface dynamically updating from the online, a widgets system, and extra. So count on to see much more of this sooner or later.
Mikhail Parakhin, who has been centered on Bing Chat in current months, is main this new experiences staff, 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 desires individuals to get enthusiastic about proper now and one thing we’re more likely to see numerous on the firm’s occasion on Thursday. Microsoft has been more and more attempting 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 chatting with 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 concerning 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 every little thing on Home windows,” Panay mentioned earlier this year. Panay gained’t be at Microsoft anymore to guide 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’s round how Microsoft continues to innovate on the {hardware} aspect. Panay was all the time a units fan, having led the Floor Professional improvement that has seen firms like Apple, Dell, and Asus produce their very own Floor-like units. However Microsoft signaled changes 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 during the last decade, or does Microsoft’s push for AI overshadow the dangerous {hardware} bets?
Microsoft is rumored to have scrapped plans for a dual-screen Surface Duo 3, years after effectively canceling its Home windows-powered Floor Neo dual-screen system. It’s not clear what the longer term 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 Surface accessories.
Microsoft additionally invested closely in Home windows 11 in the course of the pandemic and the PC gross sales increase, however Floor and units income has been battered this yr as PC shipments skilled huge declines. Earlier than the PC pandemic increase, Nadella was additionally looking at a future beyond Windows, iOS, and Android. He joked in January 2020 that Home windows could possibly be known as “Azure Edge” sooner or later to make it clear that cloud companies are the most important {hardware} enterprise at Microsoft.
In the course of the FTC v. Microsoft hearing, we heard that Microsoft desires to move Windows fully to the cloud on the buyer 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 staff suggests this effort could be very a lot in movement.
Maybe this uncertainty across the PC enterprise after an enormous increase in gross sales has led Panay again to only wanting to construct units quite than the sophisticated job of operating Home windows and gearing it up for AI and a future within the cloud.
All of this can be prime of thoughts watching how Microsoft discusses Home windows and Floor at its occasion on Thursday. We’re getting into a brand new AI period for Home windows and Microsoft’s many companies, and will probably be key to see precisely how Floor performs its half with out one in every of its key inventors on the helm.