Microsoft today announced the surprise news that it was parting ways with Stephen Elop, Nokia’s ex-CEO just over a year it purchased the mobile company, but buried in the announcement was a bigger piece of news.
Under the reorganization, Microsoft is merging both its hardware and operating systems divisions into a single group, overseen by Terry Myerson, former head of the Operating Systems division.
That means that the group responsible for developing hardware including the Surface tablet, Xbox and other products will also be building the Windows operating system.
The merged division will be called the ‘Windows and Devices Group (WDG)’ and is “focused on enabling more personal computing experiences powered by the Windows ecosystem.”
The move is a sizable one, throwing further weight behind Microsoft’s ambitions to continue create its own hardware lines rather than simply relying on its OEM partners to build the right devices.
There’s a few questions lingering after today’s announcement: what does this mean for the seemingly stagnant Lumia phone lineup? Will the Microsoft Surface continue as it is already? Does this signal a new Windows strategy?
I’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update when we hear back.
➤ Microsoft aligns engineering teams to strategy [Microsoft News]
