Despite the complete collapse of the Windows on smartphone experiment, former head of Windows Phone Joe Belfiore has found a way to stay in the world of Microsoft managerial hierarchy.
After the company’s recent annual Spring-cleaning style reorganization of product departments, Belfiore has found himself tasked with effectively creating and maintaining Windows client experiences. Part of Belfiore’s duties includes implementing new Windows Shell and Edge browser experiences for customers both casual and commercial as he now reports to executive vice president Rajesh Jha who heads Microsoft’s newly formed Experiences & Devices engineering unit.
However, according to a new report from ZDnet, Belfiore will be expanding his focus to tackle experiences outside of his familiar Windows expertise. On April 16th, sources within Microsoft have claimed that Belfiore is now overseeing Education, OneNote, Wunderlist (aka To-Do) as part of his expanding scope of experience focused duties.
While not confirmed by Microsoft publically, the move is less of a headline grabber and more of a logical progression as Belifore has been somewhat overseeing a Windows + Devices for education group since his sabbatical return. Now, it would seem he has been given a more official capacity regarding the extension of experiences for OneNote and Wunderlist.
ZDNet also notes other continued shifts resulting from Microsoft’s reorg memo that includes Skype consumer team being bundled under the Outlook group and positioning Acompli’s former CEO Javier Soltero as corporate vice president of Cortana, a shift away from his CVP of Office Product spot.
Microsoft’s reorg may be a bit messy for the average observer but seems to be part of a concerted effort to modularize its Windows offering into a bundle of services for its ultimate Microsoft 365 package. The dust is still settling from the shift in company focus but we expect a vision of Microsoft’s future to be on display at its developer conference next month.
