Have chairs been thrown yet?

Summary: A "Microsoft startup guru" is leaving the company and so does Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Mobile Services

MORE layoffs are said to be coming Microsoft's way [1, 2, 3] and some people are already leaving, including the man whom VentureBeat calls Microsoft's "Silicon Valley ambassador" and the Microsoft boosters call "Microsoft startup guru".

There is an addition to the many Microsoft departures at a President or Vice President level. Many such people have been leaving since the Vista debacle and we have a Wiki page for tracking some of the names.

The significant departures resume. This times it's Arbogast, Corporate Vice President of Mobile Services, who calls it quits:

Arbogast’s latest title was the Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Mobile Services.In that role, Arbogast was in charge of “the mobile services strategy, platform, and experiences for Windows Live and Windows Mobile, as well as the strategy, platform, and integrated services for network operators and other syndication partners.”

The next rebranded (Seven-washed) release of Windows Mobile is not even out yet and release time is unknown. A lot of executives behind Vista Phone 7 [sic] are already out of the company and everything in the product is still in a crude state (more on that in a separate post). Microsoft Nick parrots Mary Jo Microsoft and adds more recent departures for context.

ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley spotted the posting and mentioned speculation that Arbogast might end up joining other former 'Softies at Yahoo. (All Things Digital's Kara Swisher reported Sept. 9 that John Matheny, general manager of the Windows Phone app studio, had left Redmond for Yahoo. That story was overshadowed by the departure of Stephen Elop, former president of the Microsoft Business Division, to become CEO of Nokia.)

The next post will deal with Microsoft entryism that Microsoft departures lead to. In particular, it will deal with the ill effects of Stephen Elop inside Nokia. ⬆