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J Allard, the Microsoft architect primarily responsible for the user experience in many of Microsoft’s most successful products, such as the Xbox 360 and the Zune has been rewarded for his hard work and success with a new job, Chief Experience Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Entertainment and Devices Division.

In addition to a more impressive sounding title and I am sure a much nicer office, this means that J can bring his considerable talents and expertise to bear on such products as Windows Mobile. A short quote from his corporate bio shows that he has both the technical chops and the UI skills to do the job.

A 15-year veteran of Microsoft, Allard previously managed the technical development of the Xbox game console and Zune media player, and launched the Zune portable entertainment devices and services business. Allard helped shape the company’s Internet strategy, has shipped over 30 products at Microsoft and was a founding member of the Xbox, Windows NT and TCP/IP product families.

I am sure J will be able to put his own unique stamp on Windows Mobile 7 and really help the OS take the next step in development. This is good news for all of us who work with Windows Mobile devices. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with as CTO, for WinMo, Zune and many other products.

Congratulations J on this well earned promotion, and good luck from MobilitySite.

Zealot (476 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, Gigabyte M912M or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Will Wheaton!).