J Allard, Amazon VP?
Yes, it’s true, according to the former Microsoft Xbox leader’s LinkedIn profile, which was updated Tuesday to say, simply, “vp, product – amazon,” true to the longtime tech figure’s understated style.
Responding to an inquiry from GeekWire, Amazon confirmed Wednesday morning that Allard has joined the company’s Devices and Services team, which is the part of the company that includes the Alexa voice assistant and Echo devices, among other products and initiatives.
He’ll be working under former Microsoft Windows and Devices executive, Panos Panay, who joined Amazon last year to lead its Devices and Services team. No word yet on which products Allard will be working on.
Allard was at Microsoft from 1991 to 2010. As chief experience officer and chief technology officer of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division, he co-founded Xbox, Xbox Live, Live Arcade and Xbox 360, among the more than 40 products he launched.
Early in his Microsoft career, in 1994, he was also instrumental in identifying the internet as an opportunity for the company in a widely cited memo, “Windows: The Next Killer Application on the Internet.”
Later, Allard was closely associated with a Microsoft skunkworks project known as Courier that involved a dual-screen tablet that never made it to market, long before the more recent release of the Microsoft Surface Duo.
For many years since leaving Microsoft, Allard has been running Project 529, a community-powered service aimed at beating back bicycle theft. Project 529 was acquired this year by bicycle insurance tech company Two Three Bird.
Allard returned to the video game industry in May 2020, joining Intellivision, but he left after a short stint.
He worked at online fundraising platform GoFundMe as chief product and technology office from July 2022 to July 2023, leading the company’s tech infrastructure and oversee product, design, and engineering teams.
