Amazon has hired Charlie Kindel, a former Windows Phone developer, to head a new and as yet undisclosed project.
Kindel left Microsoft in 2011 to work on his own startup companies, including BizLogr, but has confirmed that his is “now at Amazon working on something wonderful” via his LinkedIn profile.
He lists himself as “Director, Something Secret” at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, but his new role could have something to do with the much-rumoured Amazon smartphone.
“I’m building a new team going after a totally new area for Amazon,” wrote Kindel on his LinkedIn profile. “I’m hiring cloud and mobile developers and testers, program managers, and products managers.”
Working for Microsoft as a General Manager of the Windows Phone app platform and developer experience, Kindel also worked in other areas including Windows Media Centre and was a technical advisor to the head of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business.
Taking up his new role at Amazon, Kindel will be stepping down as CEO of BizLogr, but will remain the company’s owner and founder.
“Amazon presented an opportunity to build something new that has ginormous potential,” said Kindel to technology website GeekWire. “I simply couldn’t pass the opportunity up. As a double bonus, the idea that I can work in such a principled and customer focused company is really exciting to me.”
Rumoured to be working on an upcoming Amazon Android smartphone, Kindel has always been very vocal about Google’s OS. Prior to his departure from Microsoft, Kindel often criticised Android for its fragmentation, among other things. As soon as he left the Redmond company, Kindel became more interested in the opportunities for competition and innovation in such a fragmented system.
Kindel fuelled the rumours about him working for the Kindle manufacturer yesterday by posting his own April Fool that said he would be joining Amazon to create the “Amazon Kindle Charlie”, “Amazon’s entry into the hotly contested home server market.” However, he did confirm that part of his dummy press release was true, later confirming his appointment to Amazon via Twitter and other sources.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
