Panos Panay, the ever-pumping Microsoft chief executive and face of the Surface brand of hardware, has been appointed to the board of Sonos. Sonos board chairman Mike Volpi said in a press release that “Panay’s extensive background in developing tightly integrated hardware and software platforms, along with a track record of innovation in product design and development, makes him an exciting addition to the Sonos board.”
It may not be worth reading in a tech executive who serves on the board of another tech company without a change in job status. But it’s hard not to think about how strange of a position this Panay is deploying: on the one hand, with Microsoft, things seem to be going well with Google, because the Surface Duo, a Microsoft-branded phone that runs Android 10 turns, is set to launch in September. Sonos, on the other hand, is in the middle of a legal battle against Google on the grounds that Google stole its smart speaker technology.
Despite Panay’s personal status, however, his long experience in hardware brings technical expertise to the board of directors, which consists of former media brand operators such as Conde Nast and Hearst Magazines.
