Sources familiar with the situation have confirmed with TechCrunch that Joe Belfiore, current corporate vice president of the Windows Phone project, will pick up some Internet Explorer duties in addition to his current role.
Earlier reports indicated that Belfiore would take on some of the Internet Explorer responsibility left open by now departing corporate vice president of that effort, Dean Hachamovitch. At that time, TechCrunch was unsure if Belfiore would relinquish his Windows Phone duties in part or full as part of the change.
Instead, Belfiore will, as reported previously by The Verge, pick up user interface work on Internet Explorer (TechCrunch has confirmed this as well), but is not set to step down from the Windows Phone team that he has been part of for some time. Belfiore has worked on the user interface of Internet Explorer releases in the past, including Internet Explorer 4.
The exit of Hachamovitch from Internet Explorer makes sense from a product perspective, as Internet Explorer 11 recently shipped for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. The move expands Belfiore’s responsibility matrix, and can thus be viewed as promotion of sorts.
Hachamovitch will, in his own words, “start a new team to take on something new.”
Microsoft is in the midst of a large reorganization, as well as a business model shift and the search for a new CEO, making it a liquid moment for the company. Expect more transfers and expansions such as the one above in the next few months.
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