Microsoft bumps Windows Phone head Andy Lees to new role

Microsoft has moved Andy Lees, the head of its Windows Phone division, to a new position within the firm. AllThingsD broke the news but did not name Lees’s successor. Instead, several of Lees’s responsibilities, including marketing and business development, will be handled by Microsoft corporate vice president Terry Myerson. Lees will remain a president within Microsoft and will still report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer. “I have asked Andy Lees to move to a new role working for me on a time-critical opportunity focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8,” Ballmer said in a purported internal memo that was obtained by AllThingsD. “We have tremendous potential with Windows Phone and Windows 8, and this move sets us up to really deliver against that potential. In the three years Andy has been leading the phone group, we’ve come a long way,” he added. “We reset our strategy, built a strong team that delivered [Windows Phone 7] and [Windows Phone 7.5 Mango] and created critical new partnerships and ecosystem around Windows Phone. That is a ton of progress in a brief period of time, and I’m excited for Terry and team to keep driving forward and for Andy to dig into a new challenge.”

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