Panos Panay is reportedly joining Amazon, Bloomberg reports. The former Windows and Surface chief announced his departure from Microsoft earlier today, and Bloomberg reports that he’s moving to Seattle’s other giant tech company to oversee Amazon’s vast hardware products.
Panay has been instrumental in the creation of Surface devices and much of their success and will no longer be presenting at Microsoft’s event on Thursday. He will remain at Microsoft for another couple of weeks as part of a transition process before joining Amazon.
Panay will be taking over from Dave Limp, Amazon’s outgoing hardware boss. Limp announced in August that he plans to leave in the next few months after a 13-year career at Amazon, leaving big shoes to fill. Amazon is also hosting a devices and services event on Wednesday, where Limp is expected to appear.
Panay will run Amazon’s division for its Alexa and Echo speakers, Bloomberg reports. It’s not clear what his job title will be, and both Amazon and Microsoft declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report.
In recent years, Amazon has been working on extending its footprint of hardware to robots and even home surveillance drones. Amazon is also in the process of acquiring Roomba robot vacuum maker iRobot for $1.7 billion. If the deal is approved by regulators, then Amazon will have a host of hardware, including Alexa devices, Ring doorbells, and Amazon’s other smart home products.
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