Hi folks – Some of you might have read today’s report on CNET about the Zune re-organization. If you haven’t already seen it, click to hear from the new head of the Zune business, Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s TV business and now Zune.
If you’re pressed for time, here’s the short version:
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We are combining the Zune software team with the Connected TV organization (Windows Media Center, Mediaroom) to create a single group focused on creating software and services that enable great entertainment experiences across the PC, TV, mobile phones and Zune devices.
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The Zune device hardware team joined the mobile communications business group to create a center of excellence in portable hardware. This will bring people who live and breathe hardware together.
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The priority now is to focus on delivering against our current product roadmaps across each team in the new organization. That means new software, services and devices for Zune customers.
In a nutshell, this is an extension of the way we’ve been taking the business for some time. We’ve said before the strategy for Zune is to provide a great entertainment experience across multiple screens and devices and this move will help us deliver that. We’re looking at how the powerful features of Zune can be combined with the work in the TV space to deliver a broader entertainment experience.
As Enrique put it, “The goal is to make non-gaming entertainment a first-class citizen within Microsoft's business, that means building better software and gaining scale a little further out than just in Redmond."
For our current customers, this internal, organizational adjustment won’t result in any changes. Like I said above we’re still committed to delivering the next wave of the Zune hardware, software and services – and we will do so this calendar year, so stay tuned.
But now our charter is broader, and more exciting, and we can’t wait to take Zune to the next level for customers!