Amazon lures Microsoft WinPhone chief with Kindle

Etailer claims third Redmond scalp

Microsoft's man rallying developers and partners to buy into Windows Phone is reportedly jumping ship to help push Amazon's cross-platform Kindle push.

Brandon Watson is head of the Developer Experience team working on Windows Phone 7, which leads developer marketing and developer platform products.

Watson is reported to be joining Amazon as director of the Kindle cross-platform team, where he'll work on the development roadmap for Kindle apps across all platforms.

That will mean, among other things, that he will be responsible for targeting Kindle apps on Windows, Windows Phone, Android and Apple's iOS. Based on what we've seen him do at Microsoft, his role will include evangelising Amazon's work, encouraging partners and third-party devs to buy in and helping to ensure all Kindle apps work consistently on the different platforms.

Microsoft, has confirmed that 6 February is Watson's last day at Redmond, but said no more. Watson apparently announced his exit via email.

His exit follows that of Matt Bencke, general manager for developer marketplace, from the Windows Phone division. He moved to Microsoft Xbox Live. Watson, meanwhile, joins corporate vice president of Windows platform strategy Mike Nash and director of games platform strategy Andre Vrignaud in leaving Microsoft for Amazon. Both Nash and Vrignaud made their moves in the last two years. ®