charlie kindel

Longtime Microsoft veteran Charlie Kindel, who left the software giant a year and a half ago to launch a startup, just joined Amazon to work on a "secret" project.

Kindel held several jobs in his 21 years at Microsoft, including general manager in charge of rallying independent software developers to its Windows Phone platform. His hire at Amazon could stoke more speculation that the online retail giant is readying a mobile phone of its own. Kindel isn't saying, noting on his recently updated LinkedIn page only that he's working on "something wonderful."

The news … Read more

Editor's note: this is the second part in a series of stories on the behind-the-scenes efforts by Microsoft to bring Windows Phone 7 to market.

REDMOND, Wash.--Not far away, there's a town called Selah that has become something of a rallying cry for the 15 or so people gathered in a windowless conference room on Microsoft's sprawling corporate campus here.

Selah is known for its apple processing business. It's a place where they, literally, crush apples. Crushing Apple is something at which Microsoft used to excel, at least until the iPod and the iPhone came … Read more

As I noted last night, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series is a clean break with the past, from the look and feel of the product down to the way software makers will write programs for the device.

Microsoft confirmed on Thursday that the primary tools for developers will be Silverlight and XNA, while the look of the device, as outlined at last month's Mobile World Congress, is closer to the Zune HD than to any prior version of Windows Mobile.

I had a chance to do a short video interview with Microsoft's Charlie Kindel and get a … Read more