Apple Europe poaches Xbox PR mastermind

Apple has poached Microsoft's top product marketing bod in the UK to front up its app store in Europe.

Robin Burrowes, formerly Microsoft's Head of Product Marketing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has just been hired by Apple in the role of Head of App Store Marketing for Europe.

Burrowes has previous experience marketing the Xbox, one of Microsoft's biggest successes.

Describing himself as "very passionate about digital entertainment – especially bringing to life digital experiences for music, gaming and movies", Burrowes will have to position the iTunes app store against the software ecosystems growing up around consoles like the Xbox, which he spent seven years working on.

The hire is a sign that Apple wants to bring in talent with gaming expertise. It recently hired Xbox PR chief Nick Grange to focus on its hardware.

This may be a move to counter Redmond's recent hire of NT daddy Dave Cutler to transform its console into an "everything box"...

The App Store job is in Apple's iTunes Europe division, based in their London offices. ®