AllThingsD has learned that Microsoft has moved Windows Phone Division President Andy Lees to a new role and brought in Terry Myerson to take over the unit. Myerson previously led the engineering efforts for the phone unit and will now pick up business development, marketing and other responsibilities in his new role.
Lees’ new role will see him focus on interaction between different devices from phones to slates to PCs. According to an internal memo sent by 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. We have tremendous potential with Windows Phone and Windows 8, and this move sets us up to really deliver against that potential.”
Could the move herald even tighter integration between Windows Phone and its larger sibling in the future? It’s not unlikely that elements of Windows 8 could make their way into the next version of Windows Phone (codenamed Apollo).
Myerson steps into the role as Nokia is set to launch its first Windows Phone devices in North America next month.