A man responsible for helping to bring the Xbox gaming console and Zune media player to life for Microsoft Corporation MSFT has a new place to call home after years of helping build up the technology giant’s gaming division.
What Happened: While J Allard might not be a household name to many, he is responsible for helping to create several products for Microsoft in recent years including the Xbox console and several parts of the key gaming division at the company.
Allard joined Amazon.com Inc AMZN last month. Since then, he’s been quietly working on "new ideas" for the e-commerce company, according to The Verge.
According to the report, Allard is the Vice President of Amazon's devices and services team. Allard confirmed his job title but says it’s "too early to have anything to say" about what he'll be doing.
Why It's Important: Allard left Microsoft in 2010 after 20 years at the company. Among the items that Allard was responsible for during his time at Microsoft was cofounding the Xbox division. He developed the Xbox 360 console and launched the Xbox Live network.
Outside of gaming, Allard also helped develop the Zune, which was meant to be Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPod.
Allard also helped work on the Courier tablet for Microsoft, which was never officially announced as a company product.
After leaving Microsoft, Allard has been running Project 529, a community service organization. After Two Three Bird‘s acquisition of Project 529, Allard may have been looking to get back into the technology sector.
With a new position at Amazon, it's likely that Allard is being put to work to design and work on new products and developments.
While he's not on the Amazon Gaming team, the e-commerce company has been expanding this business line. It will be interesting to see if Allard ever supports the company's gaming division given his Xbox success.
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