Big news out of the Microsoft camp today as both J. Allard and Robbie Bach, CTO and president of the electronics and devices division, respectively, have left the company. Allard has said he would like to focus more on his interests, but will stay around as an "advisor" to Steve Ballmer, the current Microsoft CEO. Bach's departure is being billed as a retirement.
The electronics and devices division of Microsoft has been responsible for things like the Xbox, which has been doing extremely well, and Windows Mobile, which has been doing slightly worse. Analyst firm Gartner has reported that WinMo's marketshare has fallen to 6.8 percent as of the first quarter of 2010, compared to Android at 9.6 percent and iPhone at 15.4 percent. However, it's somewhat unfair to compare Windows Mobile to Android and the iPhone OS since most people have abandoned WinMo for Windows Phone 7, which will be released later this year. Windows Phone 7 looks to be a major step forward for Microsoft and should bring the Windows Phone portion of the E&D department up to speed with the Xbox. Now that Bach and Allard are out, it looks like the entire electronics and devices division will be reporting directly to Steve Ballmer. It will certainly be interesting to see how Microsoft continues on without two of their most important employees. How do you think that Allard and Bach's departures will affect Microsoft? Share your opinion with us!
